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In this study two different microbial cultures (one constructed with lagoon sediments from an industrial area in Venice, Italy and the other with aquifer material from a chlorinated solvent-contaminated site in Rho, Italy) were investigated for their ability to dechlorinate perchloroethylene (PCE), 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane (TeCA) and their mixtures with butyrate as the primary electron donor (i.e., the H₂-releasing substrate) in the presence and in the absence of sulfate, an ubiquitous groundwater component. In all the tested conditions, the presence of sulfate had a detrimental effect on the rate of reductive dechlorination. This effect was most likely due to the rapid and competitive utilization of H₂ by the sulfate-reducing populations present in the cultures. Indeed, in all sulfate-containing setups a “steady-state” dissolved H₂ concentration in the range of 0.7–2.9nmolL⁻¹ was typically observed during butyrate degradation. At …