Contamination of typical phthalate acid esters in surface water and sediment of the Pearl River, South China: Occurrence, distribution, and health risk assessment

Abstract

The occurrence and distribution of six phthalate acid esters (PAEs) in surface water and sediment of the Pearl River were investigated, including Xijiang River (XR), Beijiang River (BR), Lingdingyang Estuary (LE), and Guangzhou River (GR) in South China. Six target PAEs were identified in surface water and sediment at almost all sites in the Pearl River, with di(2-ethyl-ethyl) phthalate (DEHP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) as dominant PAEs. Total 6 PAEs (ΣPAEs) in surface water and sediment ranged from 1,797.5 to 4,968.5 ng L⁻¹ and 95.24 to 3,677.26 ng g⁻¹ dw, respectively. In addition, the contamination levels of PAEs in the Pearl River are in the following order: XR > BR > GR > LE for surface water and BR > XR > GR for sediment. Local agricultural activities, industrial production, water confluence, and seawater intrusion are the probable sources of PAEs in the Pearl River. Based on correlation analysis, the possible collocation patterns of different PAEs were revealed. The risk assessment indicates that residual PAEs in the Pearl River pose a serious threat to the ecological environment. According to risk characterization of fish living in the Pearl River, the decreasing order of health risks was: GR > LE > XR > BR.

Keywords:

• Surface water
• sediment
• spatial distribution characteristics
• contamination levels

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41977300 and 41907297), Guangdong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 2016A030306033), Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (No. 202002020055), Fujian Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 2020I1001), and Guangdong Foundation for Program of Science and Technology Research (No. 2017B030314057).