Atmospheric Deposition of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Pesticides to Galveston Bay

In order to fulfill the mandates of the Great Waters Program and the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (112 m), the US EPA initiated monitoring research in important and representative water bodies, including coastal waters. As part of this program the Texas Regional Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Study (TRIADS) was established with a sampling site located in Seabrook, Texas in order to monitor atmospheric deposition of contaminants to Galveston Bay. Organic rain samples were collected with a Baker wet deposition sampler that collects the rain falling into a 1 m^2 surface area. The rain was then gravity filtered through a glass wool plug and a glass fiber filter that remove particles and then a column containing XAD-2 resin that collects the dissolved organic contaminants. The contaminants on the XAD-2 resin are operationally defined as dissolved, while the contaminants on the filter are operationally defined as particulate.