Policy development for the reduction of pollution caused by traffic experiences from The Netherlands.

Road traffic is a diffuse source of heavy metals and oil that leads to pollution of verges and surface water in areas immediately surrounding roads. The Commission for Integrated Water Management (CIW) has drawn up a policy document addressing methods for managing this type of pollution. The document is based on results from numerous studies in The Netherlands targeting pollution caused by traffic. The Commission concludes that measures at the source are the only way to realise sustainable solutions. For example, attention should be devoted to the issue of zinc emissions from car tyres and crash barriers. The concept of controlled infiltration is recommended for combating pollution caused by spray and runoff from roads. This includes periodic chemical inspection of verge pollution and, where necessary, replacement of the verge's top layer. The application of porous asphalt on highways in The Netherlands has also proven highly effective in limiting pollution caused by traffic, with far less pollution caused by spray from the highway and runoff as compared to traditional asphalt.

Surface and wastewater quality monitoring: combination of liquid chromatography with (geno)toxicity detection, diode array detection and tandem mass spectrometry for identification of pollutants.

Identification of unknown water pollutants with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) is often more complex and time consuming than identification with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In order to focus the identification effort on relevant compounds, unknown peaks need to be selected carefully. Based on its frequency of occurrence in the LC-Diode Array Detection (LC-DAD) chromatograms of surface and infiltrated waters, an unknown peak was selected for identification with LC-MS-MS. This compound was identified as hexamethoxymethylmelamine (HMMM), a chemical often used in the coating industry. This is the first time the presence of this chemical in surface waters has been reported. In addition to HMMM, two other structurally related compounds were found to be present in the investigated surface water. A standard mixture of HMMM and its by-products did not exhibit (geno)toxicity under the test conditions applied in this study. In another example, a genotoxic fraction of an industrial wastewater was isolated and examined by LC-MS-MS using a modern quadrupole-orthogonal acceleration-time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Q-TOF). Four compounds were detected. The structures of two compounds present are proposed to be 9-amino-2-hydroxy-acridine and 9-hydroxy-acridine-N-oxide or its structural isomer dihydroxy-acridine. Confirmation with standards could not be carried out, as pure compounds are not available. The other two compounds (structural isomers) could not be identified based on the data available within this study.