Monitoring of triclosan in the surface water of the Tone Canal, Japan.

Triclosan, which is used widely as an antibacterial agent, was ubiquitously found in the water samples collected from the Tone Canal, Chiba, Japan. The concentrations of triclosan ranged from 11 to 31 ng/L. Higher concentrations of triclosan were observed in water samples collected from downstream, as compared to in the water samples collected upstream. The daily monitoring of a selected point from where the domestic wastewater inflow occurs showed that the triclosan levels in the water samples ranged from 55 to 134 ng/L; the levels of the loading amounts peaked from 10:00 to 12:00.