Paper Title
Monitoring Of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBS) In Sediment From A Dam In Northern Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of toxic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the environment. The objective of this study was to analyse 6 indicator PCBs (28, 52, 101, 138, 153 and 180) in sediment samples from a selected dam and compare the results to environmental guidelines. Samples were taken once monthly from September 2015 to August 2016. The samples were extracted and cleaned up with a silica gel column before analysis by GC-MS. 4 of the 6 PCBs- 28, 52, 101 and 138- were detected in sediment samples from April-August. ∑ PCBs concentrations of 17.40-18.50 µg/kg found for samples taken from May-July is slightly higher than 50 % of the guideline limit of 34.1 µg/kg for total PCBs for sediment in a freshwater ecosystem. This poses a potential risk to humans who consume fish from the dam. Continual monitoring of these pollutants is necessary for risk assessing the environmental health of this water body. Keywords - Environmental monitoring, PCBs, sediment, GC-MS, guideline limits