In this study, the concentrations of 15 phenol derivatives were analyzed from the phreatic and groundwater wells surrounding a
decommissioned chemical factory in a village from the western part of Romania. An UPLC-MS method was used to assess the
concentrations of the chemical target compounds in the water samples. The most frequent compounds were 4-chlorophenol, 4-tertoctylphenol
and 4-nonylphenol, being detected in 17 of the 19 sampling sites, while the least frequent compound was 2,4,6-
trichlorophenol, that was found in only 7 samples. The highest mean concentration was obtained for bisphenol A (47.54 ngꞏmL–1),
while 2,4-dinitrophenol was found with the lowest mean concentration (9.38 ngꞏmL–1). The most contaminated water samples were
found in the monitoring wells placed downstream of the factory. With the exception of the samples taken from the municipal
drinking water system, the samples from phreatic water wells contained the target phenol derivatives, at various concentrations.
Although the platform has ceased completely, the hazard caused by decades of continuous phenolic pollutant leakage is still
significant to the present day.