Description
Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve is a wetland preserve in Mission Bay, San Diego, California. Due to urbanization, what was once a 2,000-acre wetland area, is now a 21-acre preserve home to diverse species of flora and fauna. Stormwater pollution and anthropogenic forces may make this area vulnerable to tobacco product waste (TPW) and their associated toxic chemicals. Cigarette butts (CBs) are the most prevalent litter at beach cleanups and are usually transported through urban runoff. It is important to assess contamination impacts from TPW, especially in natural reserve systems. In an urban reserve like Kendall-Frost Marsh Reserve, tidal marshes serve as important barriers for storm protection and erosion as well as productive filters of the watershed between estuaries and the ocean. In the reserve, water and sediment samples were collected from two sites on 13 separate occasions during wet and dry seasons. These samples were analyzed by a non-targeted analytical method based on comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC/TOF-MS). As a result, 89 unique compounds were tentatively identified through this process. Of these, 57 are tobacco-related but most of these compounds have diverse uses such as in tire-wear particles, plasticizers, household, manufacturing, industrial, and pesticides. Cotinine was the single compound that had tobacco-specific relation. A physical survey of litter was completed after analysis on 12 separate events where TPW found an average of 47 items outside the reserve and 5 inside the reserve. There were 24 compounds ubiquitous in abundance or frequency of which 18 were tobacco-related, 14 are used in plastics, and 12 are associated with tire composition or combustion. These compounds are also used frequently in products used in houses, cars, and personal care. According to EPA’s CompTox database, pyrene, dibutyl phthalate, and benzene,1,1’-(1,3- propanediyl)bis- seem to be of most concern based on their persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. Both pyrene and dibutyl phthalate have known tobacco associations and benzene,1,1’-(1,3-propanediyl)bis- is linked to uses in plastics, especially related to bisphenol-A. In conclusion, the reserve was polluted with chemicals associated with tobacco products, possibly tobacco use and disposal, and other anthropogenic products. Keywords: Water quality, sediment contaminants, non-targeted analysis, tobacco waste products, marsh reserve, GC×GC/TOF-MS
