Objective: The city of Tîrgu Mureş, and of course other cities around the world, is polluted with nitrogen oxides. Most of the time, nitrogen oxides concentration into the air is between legal limits. However, this measurement is made on ground level and most of the pollutant gases are raised into the atmosphere from where is possible to return to the ground in form of nitrite and nitrate. These substances can contaminate soil and groundwater. The objective of the study was to measure nitrite and nitrate contents in groundwater and precipitation in and around Tîrgu Mureş.
Methods: A simple ion pair high pressure liquid chromatographic method with UV detection was used.
Results: High amounts of nitrite and nitrate were measured up to 25 km from the city of Tîrgu Mureş. An astonishing 4200 mg/ml melted snow was measured at about 100 m from the polluting plant. Other concentrations were between tens and hundreds of μg/ml melted snow. Rain water concentrations were in the same range. Most of the spring water samples we tested were over the drinking water limits stated by EU.
Conclusions: The high amounts of nitrites and nitrates found in precipitations around the city of Tîrgu Mureş show that pollution with nitrogen oxides goes beyond expected extent. This pollution is a health risk since precipitation will contaminate soil, and possibly crops will be contaminated too. Presence of airborne free radicals and activated pollutants will also increase due to the presence of these anions in unusual high amounts in air moisture.