Pollution Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Microorganism Pollutions in the Beiyun River

Abstract

Microorganism pollution in rivers is of great importance to the protection of watershed water quality and public health management. As a typical watershed of the Haihe River watershed, the Beiyun River was chosen as the study area, and the characteristics and health risk of microorganism pollution were assessed from a comprehensive perspective. The results showed that the microbial contamination of the fecal sources was serious during the wet season, and the microbial amount at most river sections was more than 105 MPN·L-1. During the normal season and dry season, the microbial amount was approximately 103-105 MPN·L-1. Therefore, no obvious change could be observed. The fecal pollution in the agricultural river sections was the most severe, and the water quality of over 60% of these river sections was below the state Grade V level. The fecal microbial biomass of some urban river sections increased from 103 MPN·L-1 to 106MPN·L-1 after the rainfall event, indicating an obvious change of fecal microbial pollution during the rainfall process. For the Beiyun River, the exposure risk of the fecal microbial biomass was mainly between 0.015-0.035, while the Lianhua River, Macao River, lower reaches of Qinghe River, and lower reaches of Wenyu River were hotspots for contamination. Greater attention should be paid to these areas.