Occurrence and ecological risk assessment of organic micropollutants in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China: A case study of water diversion. (August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yan, Zhenhua; Yang, Haohan; Dong, Huike; Ma, Binni; Sun, Hongwei; Pan, Ting; Jiang, Runren; Zhou, Ranran; Shen, Jie; Liu, Jianchao; Lu, Guanghua
• Is Part Of: Environmental pollution. Volume 239(2018)
• Page Start: 223
• Page End: 232
• Publication Date: 2018-08
• Subjects: Micropollutant -- Water diversion -- Yangtze River -- Water security; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Effets physiologiques -- Périodiques; Pollution; Pollution -- Environmental aspects; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 363.73
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.04.023
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-7491

Abstract

Abstract: Water diversion has been increasingly applied to improve water quality in many water bodies. However, little is known regarding pollution by organic micropollutants (OMPs) in water diversion projects, especially at the supplier, and this pollution may threaten the quality of transferred water. In the present study, a total of 110 OMPs belonging to seven classes were investigated in water and sediment collected from a supplier of the Yangtze River within four water diversion projects. A total of 69 and 58 target OMPs were detected in water and sediment, respectively, at total concentrations reaching 1041.78 ng/L and 5942.24 ng/g dry weight (dw). Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and pharmaceuticals were the predominant pollutants identified. When preliminarily compared with the pollution in the receiving water, the Yangtze River generally exhibited mild OMPs pollution and good water quality parameters, implying a clean water source in the water diversion project. However, in Zongyang and Fenghuangjing, PAHs pollution was more abundant than that in the corresponding receiving water in Chaohu Lake. Ammonia nitrogen pollution in the Wangyu River was comparable to that in Taihu Lake. These findings imply that water diversion may threaten receiving waters in some cases. In addition, the risks of all detected pollutants in both water and sediment were assessed. PAHs in water, especially phenanthrene and high-molecular-weight PAHs, posed high risks to invertebrates, followed by the risks to fish and algae. Pharmaceuticals, such as antibiotics and antidepressants, may also pose risks to algae and fish at a number of locations. To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first to describe OMPs pollution in water diversion projects, and the results provide a new perspective regarding the security of water diversion projects. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Organic micropollutants (OMPs) pollution in water diversions were firstly studied. PAHs and pharmaceuticals were the predominant pollutants. Yangtze River had a comparable OMPs pollution and was suitable for water diversions. Several OMPs pollution in the supplier were worse than the receiving water. PAHs in water posed high risks to invertebrate, as well as antibiotics to algae. Abstract : Our study provided a documentation on the comprehensive pollution of micropollutants in water diversions and provided a new insight on the security.