The goal of the research reported herein was to begin a methodical investigation of organic priority pollutants applied to plant-soil systems at rates characteristic of municipal sludge land treatment. A single chemical was applied at rates of 0.1, 10, and 100-fold of the expected value received during an annual application of municipal sludge. The 14C-chemicals investigated were in the following groups: polynuclear aromatics, phthalic acid esters, and substituted aromatic compounds. None of the organic priority pollutants studied was entirely excluded from all plant species at the rates of soil application utilized. The ratio of vegetation fresh weight concentration of a chemical to the concentration loaded initially onto the soil (bioaccumulation) was most typically less than 0.01 and always less than 1.0. Of the crops studied (fescue, corn, soybeans, wheat), no vegetation type was routinely the species evidencing the highest uptake of the organic chemicals used. Plant uptake appears to be largely governed by the losses over time from the soil and the water solubility of a given chemical.

"January 1986." "EPA 600/2-86-010." "PB 86-150208." Microfiche.