Contamination of soil around wood-preserving facilities by polychlorinated aromatic compounds

The fate of the different constituents of wood-preserving chlorophenol formulation in soil near the preserving facilities at four different sawmills was studied. The sawmills were in normal operation during the examination period. Penetration and stability of chlorophenols and the dimeric impurities of the contaminating formulation polychlorinated phenoxyphenols and polychlorinated dibenzofurans in soil were followed. The concentrations of all compounds were very high in soil, 500-3500 ppm for chlorophenols, 1-50 ppm for polychlorinated phenoxyphenols, and 0.2-5 ppm for polychlorinated dibenzofurans (dry weight of soil), showing that soil was heavily contaminated near the preserving facilities. No clear decrease of soil concentrations of these compounds was seen within 1 year after one mill stopped using technical chlorophenol.