Identification and assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in storm water in the Delaware Estuary

From 2005 through 2007, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) collected 17 storm water samples from 5 different conveyances and analyzed the samples for all 209 Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) congeners, under a Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxics grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. DRBC collected both first‐flush and flow‐weighted composite samples from all sites, to compute event mean concentrations. We evaluated congener pattern similarities between paired samples and between samples and Aroclor mixtures. In comparison to storm water samples, equipment blank and decontamination water samples exhibited substantially lower PCB concentrations and dissimilar congener patterns. Computed event mean concentrations from this sampling generally agreed with literature derived values used in the Total Maximum Daily Loads in 2003 and 2006. We provided specific equipment recommendations to facilitate future storm water PCB monitoring.This effort was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under cooperative agreement X7‐ 98378201‐0 via the Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) Chemical Program