Ecological and health risk assessment of organochlorine pesticides in an urbanized river network of Shanghai, China

Chong Chen,Songsong Chen,Limin Ma,Kai Zhang,Wenbing Zou

doi:10.1186/s12302-020-00322-9

Abstract

BackgroundOrganochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are currently still threatening the ecological environment and people’s health. However, studies that investigate OCP pollution levels in an urbanized river network of an entire city with a high density of rivers, such as Shanghai, have rarely been reported. In addition, due to the pressure of high population densities, ecological risk and health hazard assessments of OCPs in river networks are a knowledge gap that needs to be urgently filled. Thus, in this study, the concentrations, distribution, and partitioning of OCPs are evaluated in an ecological and health risk assessment for the urbanized river network of Shanghai. The goal is to establish connections among OCP residues and establish their impacts on ecological and human health.ResultsThe concentrations of 26 OCPs in the urbanized river network of Shanghai ranged from 43.90 to 342.74 ng/L, with a mean value of 181.34 ng/L. Some OCPs formed triangle-shaped areas with higher local ecological risks than other areas, and there were nine OCPs of high risk in some areas. The health risk assessment results showed that the ranking of the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) for dermal contact according to age and gender was adults > children > seniors > adolescents, and females > males, while the ranking of the ILCR caused by mistaken oral intake was adults > children > adolescents > seniors, and females > males. The non-carcinogenic risk hazard index (HI) values of both exposure routes were less than one.ConclusionOCP concentrations in the northern and southern regions of Shanghai were significantly higher than in other regions, and the partition coefficient (Kp) values of the ∑26 OCPs were negatively correlated with the total suspended solids’ (TSS) contents (p < 0.01). The ecological risks were relatively higher in agricultural areas. The ILCR for dermal contact and mistaken oral intake were generally low, except for adults, whose ILCR caused by dermal contact were at moderate risk. In addition, OCPs in river waters did not pose significant non-carcinogenic health hazards for a majority of the people.

Highlights

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are currently still threatening the ecological environment and people’s health
The results were similar with the concentrations of 11.4–368.7 ng/L reported for the Lake Volvi, Greece [34], and slightly higher than some other waters such as 22.29–274.28 ng/L in the surface water of Aba Prefecture in China [35], 2–245 ng/L in the River Brahmaputra in India [36], and 52–285 ng/L in the Indus River of Pakistan [37] (Additional file 1: Table S9)
The non-carcinogenic risks caused by dermal contact were much higher than that of mistaken oral intake, but the hazard index (HI) values of both exposure routes were smaller than 1

Summary

Introduction

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are currently still threatening the ecological environment and people’s health. Due to the pressure of high population densities, ecological risk and health hazard assessments of OCPs in river networks are a knowledge gap that needs to be urgently filled. In this study, the concentrations, distribution, and partitioning of OCPs are evaluated in an ecological and health risk assessment for the urbanized river network of Shanghai. During the past two decades, high levels of OCPs in the water, sediments, and aquatic biota of many important rivers in China, such as the Shayin River [4], the Yellow River [5], and the Pearl River [6], could be still detected. OCPs are still threatening the ecological environment and people’s health today

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