Occurrence, distribution, environmental risk assessment and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water and sediments of the Liaohe River Basin, China.

Abstract

The occurrence and distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in water and sediments in Liaohe River Basin. The total PAH concentrations ranged from 111.9 to 2,931.6 ng/L in water and from 92.2 to 295,635.2 ng/g dry weight (dw) in sediments. The PAHs in water were dominated by 2-, 3- and 4-ring PAHs, which accounted for 42.8 %, 39.4 % and 14.2 % of the total PAHs, respectively, while in sediment PAHs were dominated by 3-, 4- and 5-ring PAHs, which accounted for 26.5 %, 44.2 % and 17.4 % of the total PAHs, respectively. The benzo[a]pyrene equivalents for water samples showed that in 37 out of 50 sites the values were greater than the national standard, and the environmental risk assessment indicated that high environmental risk of PAHs existed in sediments. Using the molecular ratio method for the source identification it was concluded that PAHs were determined to be from mixed sources (petroleum and combustion) in Liaohe River system and combustion sources in Daliao River system.