Organic contaminants in Croatian municipal wastewaters.

Municipal wastewaters are among the most important sources of waste materials released into the environment. In Croatia, this problem is especially pronounced since only 4.4% of the total wastewaters are subject to complete mechanical and biological treatment. Beside a limited number of regulated organic contaminants, wastewaters contain an extremely high number of different potentially harmful organic compounds. Comprehensive analyses of Croatian wastewaters using mass spectrometric techniques (GC/ MS, LC/MS) indicated the presence of a large number of different organic compounds with a predominance of two main groups of contaminants: petroleum hydrocarbons and detergent-derived surfactants. Recent investigations of specific organic contaminants in wastewater focused on the determination of so-called emerging contaminants, whose ecotoxicological relevance is based on new types of biological effects and for which water quality criteria have not yet been defined. The main goal of this paper is to make an overview of the present knowledge on the occurrence of different types of organic contaminants in Croatian municipal wastewaters, paying special attention to the emerging contaminants.