Distribution, Sources, and Risk of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in the Largest Irrigation Area in the Yellow River Basin

Abstract

To investigate the contamination of PCBs in agricultural soils irrigated chronically with polluted water and the distribution and migration of PCBs under long-term irrigation, 100 farmland soil profile samples were collected in the Yellow River irrigation area in Inner Mongolia, China, to determine PCB content. Cluster analysis was used to identify possible sources of PCBs products, and the USEPA Health Risk Evaluation Model assessed the health risks posed by PCBs to humans. The results showed that the detection rates of eight monomers in the different soil layers of each sample site ranged from 5% to 90%, and the concentration ranged from not detected to 87.71 ng·g−1. The PCBs content showed a vertical distribution rule of accumulation in the shallow layer, sudden decrease in the middle layer. Low-chlorinated PCBs were dominant in each soil profile. Source identification indicated that PCB pollution in the study area originated mainly from the Aroclor1242, Aroclor1248, Aroclor1016, Aroclor1232, and Aroclor1221 industrial products and domestic transformer oil. Finally, a health risk assessment demonstrated that child and adult groups in study area were exposed to negligible carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks.