Ecology of industrial pollution in China

Figures & data

Figure 1. Industrial-added value from 1978 to 2018 in China.

Figure 2. Industrial discharge from different regions in China from 1986 to 2015.

Figure 3. Variation of pollution index and industrial-added value in China from1995 to 2015.Data sources: China Statistical Yearbook (1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016). Some data of wastewater, waste gas and solid waste were not available in Beijing, Hebei, Liaoning, Chongqing, Guizhou and Tibet in 1995, pollution index values in these regions were non-applicable. Gray indicates no data.

Figure 4. Schematic of industrial pollution on the aquatic and soil ecosystems.

Table 1. Effects of different pollutants on the elements of aquatic ecosystem.

	Targets and Effects
Pollutants	Species	Population	Community	Ecosystem
Organic pollutants	Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), harmful to central nervous system, liver, brain and muscle of Zebrafish (1)	Decline of individual quality, population quantity and density (3)	Affect microbial community structure and the predation or competition relationship among aquatic organisms (4), (5)	Life cycle change of organisms, effects on the structure and function of ecosystem, safety threat to the aquatic ecosystem (6)
	Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic to aquatic organisms (2)
TN,TP	Low concentration is beneficial to algae growth; high concentration can inhibit algae growth (7)	Number of planktonic algae increases, species with poor tolerance decrease or even disappear (8)	Replacement of dominant species of phytoplankton; reduction of benthic species and biomass (9)	Stimulate or enhance the development, maintenance and proliferation of primary producers; decline of species diversity, loss of self-purification ability and ecological function of ecosystem (10)
Heavy metals	Hg, inhibit respiratory movement of fish (11)	Reduce the number and density of biological population, affect its distribution and sex ratio, extinction of some species (14)	Affect the composition and structure, total abundance reduction, replacement of dominant species in the aquatic community (15)	Transport and enrichment along the food chain, inhibit functions of producers, consumers and decomposers, affect stability of the entire ecosystem (16)
	Cd, damage to the metabolic capacity of wild yellow perch (12)
	Pb, affect the normal physiological and reproductive function of organisms (13)
ECs	Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), toxicity to the nervous, metabolic and reproductive system of fish (17)	Affecting the distribution and density of aquatic plants, and the number, birth rate, mortality and sex ratio of aquatic animals (19)	Affecting the structure and distribution of sensitive aquatic communities (20)	Enrichment and amplification effects along the food chain, and potential threats to aquatic ecosystems (21), (22)
	Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs), inhibit photosynthesis and normal growth of algae; Cause different degrees of damage to tissues and organs of fish (18)

References: (1) (Kazeto, Place, and Trant 2004) (2) (Fleming, Clark, and Henny 1983) (3) (Menzie, Potocki, and Santodonato 1992) (4) (Menasveta and Cheevaparanapiwat 1981) (5) (Langworthy et al. 1998) (6) (Wu et al. 2014) (7) (Downing and McCauley 1992) (8) (Li et al. 2014) (9) (Li et al. 2014) (10) (Camargo and Alonso 2006) (11) (Ahmad et al. 2010) (12) (Couture and Rajotte 2003) (13) (Ahmad et al. 2010) (14) (Mance 1987) (15) (Clements et al. 2000) (16) (Klerks and Levinton 1989) (17) (Suja, Pramanik, and Zain 2009) (18) (Harada et al. 2008) (19) (Di Poi et al. 2018) (20) (Allyson Q and Abessa 2019) (21) (Rosal et al. 2010) (22) (Peng et al. 2018b)

Table 2. Soil pollution status in different industrial block types.

Block type	Ratio of over standard sites	Major pollutants	Industry type
Heavily polluting industrial land	36.3%	Heavy metals and PAHs	paper, petroleum, coal, chemical, metal products, electric power, etc.
Abandoned industrial land	34.9%	Zn, Hg, Pb, Cr, As and PAHs	chemical, mining, metallurgy, etc.
Industrial park	29.4%	Cd, Pb, Cu, As, Zn and PAHs	metal smelting, chemical industry
Solid waste disposal land	21.3%	Inorganic and organic pollutants	Refuse disposal station
Oil recovery land	23.6%	PHCs and PAHs	Oil recovery industry
Mining land	33.4%	Cd, Pb, As and PAHs	Mining industry
Sewage irrigation land	26.4%	Cd, As and PAHs

Data source: National Soil Pollution Survey Bulletin (MEEPRC & MNRPRC, 2014)

Figure 5. Distribution of watershed monitoring stations and water quality conditions of the major watersheds (MEEPRC 2018).

Table 3. Major industries and pollutants in different types of industrial-contaminated sites in China.

Contaminated site type	Industry type	Major pollutants
Heavy metal contaminated site	Steel, iron and smelting Mining Chemical solid waste piling	Arsenic Lead Cadmium Mercury Chrome
POPs contaminated site	Chemical Pesticides production Capacitor dismantling and burial	DDT HCB Chlordane Mirex Polychlorinated biphenyls Dioxin Polybrominated diphenyl ether
Organic pollution contaminated site	Petrochemical Coking	Benzene Hydrocarbons Heavy metals
Electronic waste contaminated site	Electronic waste disposal	Heavy metals Bromination flame retardants Dioxin

Figure 6. Framework for the development of ecological risk assessment.

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