Monitoring of contaminants in suspended particulate matter as an alternative to sediments

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires Member States of the European Union to achieve good status of all waters in 2015. The survey of chemical status focuses on checking compliance of the quality of water systems against environmental quality standards and temporal trend monitoring of contaminants in sediments and/or biota.As sediments appropriate for monitoring contaminants may not always be available, we discuss the use of suspended particulate matter (SPM) as an alternative. We describe and discuss differences in quality and quantity of sediments and SPM collected by different sampling techniques with regard to the respective advantages and drawbacks for various monitoring purposes.Often, both contaminant concentrations in sediments and in SPM may give the required information. However, selection of the technique applied for collecting SPM should take into consideration, inter alia, the purpose of the monitoring, as well as the hydrodynamic and morphological conditions of the area monitored. We illustrate general conclusions with field applications from the European rivers Rhine and Elbe.

► Suspended particulate matter (SPM) and sediments accumulate hydrophobic contaminants.
► The WFD requires trend monitoring of contaminants in sediments and/or biota.
► We compare the use of SPM and sediments for contaminant monitoring.
► Contaminant monitoring may be carried out for various purposes.
► The techniques described are applicable to rivers, estuaries and coastal systems.