Abstract
The presence of phthalate esters (PAEs) in the environment has gained a considerable attention due to their potential impacts on public health. This study reports the first data on the occurrence of 15 PAEs in the water near the Mopanshan Reservoir—the new and important water source of Harbin city in Northeast China. As drinking water is a major source for human exposure to PAEs, the fate of target PAEs in the two waterworks (Mopanshan Waterworks and Seven Waterworks) was also analyzed. The results demonstrated that the total concentrations of 15 PAEs in the water near the Mopanshan Reservoir were relatively moderate, ranging from 355.8 to 9226.5 ng/L, with the mean value of 2943.1 ng/L. DBP and DEHP dominated the PAE concentrations, which ranged from 52.5 to 4498.2 ng/L and 128.9 to 6570.9 ng/L, respectively. The occurrence and concentrations of these compounds were heavily spatially dependent. Meanwhile, the results on the waterworks samples suggested no significant differences in PAE levels with the input of the raw waters. Without effective and stable removal of PAEs after the conventional drinking water treatment in the waterworks (25.8% to 76.5%), the risks posed by PAEs through drinking water ingestion were still existing, which should be paid special attention to the source control in the Mopanshan Reservoir and some advanced treatment processes for drinking water supplies.
Highlights
IntroductionWorldwide production of phthalate esters (PAEs) is approximately 6 million tons per year [4]
Phthalate acid esters, a class of chemical compounds mainly used as plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or to a lesser extent other resins in different industrial activities, are ubiquitous in the environment and have evoked interest in the past decade due to endocrine disrupting effects and their potential impacts on public health [1,2,3].Worldwide production of phthalate esters (PAEs) is approximately 6 million tons per year [4]
Among the 15 PAEs detected in the waters, DIBP, DBP, and DEHP were measured in all the samples, with the average concentrations being 196.6, 801.4, and 1774.1 ng/L, respectively
Summary
Worldwide production of PAEs is approximately 6 million tons per year [4]. As PAEs are not chemically bound to the polymeric matrix in soft plastics, they can enter the environment by losses during manufacturing processes and by leaching or evaporating from final products [5]. Though the toxicity of PAEs to humans has not been well documented, for some years, the Ministry of Environmental Protection in China has regulated phthalates as environmental pollutants. The standard in China concerning analytical controls on drinking waters does not identify any PAEs as organic pollutant indexes to be determined by the new drinking water standard in 2007 (Standard for drinking water quality; GB5749-2006), which was forced to be monitored for the drinking water supplies in 2012. Official data about the presence of these pollutants in the aquatic environment of some cities are not available
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