Environmental occurrence and assessment of organic pollutants in surface sediments of South Peninsular Malaysia

• Main Authors: Alkhadher S.A.A., Sidek L.M., Zakaria M.P., A. AL-Garadi M., Suratman S.
• Other Authors: 56405495700
• Format: Article
• Published: Springer 2025
• Subjects: Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Pollutants; Geologic Sediments; Malaysia; Wastewater; Water Pollutants, Chemical; West Malaysia; Correlation methods; Gas chromatography; Laboratories; Organic pollutants; Sewage; Wastewater treatment; Environmental assessment; Environmental occurrence; Health concerns; Internal to external ratio; Molecular marker; Organic pollution; Sediment samples; Surface sediments; Urbanization; environmental assessment; gas chromatography; mass spectrometry; molecular analysis; organic pollutant; sewage; urbanization; wastewater treatment; chemistry; environmental monitoring; pollutant; procedures; sediment; wastewater; water pollutant; Mass spectrometry

Organic pollution continues to be an important worldwide obstacle for tackling health and environmental concerns that require ongoing and prompt response. To identify the LAB content levels as molecular indicators for sewage pollution, surface sediments had obtained from the South region of Malaysia. The origins of the LABs were identified using gas chromatography?mass spectrometry (GC?MS). ANOVA and a Pearson correlation coefficient at p < 0.05 were used in the statistical analyses of the differences between the research locations. Internal to external (I/E) ratio, homologs C13/C12, and long to short (L/S) chains are used to identify the effectiveness of wastewater treatments. According to statistical analysis, the range of LAB level at the stations was 67.4 to 188.7�ng�g?1dw. A significant difference was observed between LAB homologs (p < 0.05), with a higher level of C13 in most of the stations. The computed LAB ratio (I/E), which varied from 1.6 to 2.7, revealed the released wastewater from primary and secondary sources. LAB degradation varied between 33 and 49% in the areas that were evaluated. The treatment system of wastewater requires to be further improved, and using LAB markers to track anthropogenic contamination is imperative. ? The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024.