Spatiotemporal characteristics and dynamic risk assessment of a multi-solvents abandoned pesticide-contaminated site with a long history, in China

Abstract

With the development of the economy and the adjustment of urban planning and layout, abandoned pesticide sites are widely distributed in major and medium cities in China. Groundwater pollution of a large number of abandoned pesticide-contaminated sites has caused great potential risks to human health. Up to now, few relevant studies concerned the spatiotemporal variation of risks exposure to multi-pollutants in groundwater using probabilistic methods. In our study, the spatiotemporal characteristics of organics contamination and corresponding health risks in the groundwater of a closed pesticide site were systematically assessed. A total of 152 pollutants were targeted for monitoring over a time span up to five years (i.e., June 2016–June 2020). BTEX, phenols, chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons, and chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons were the main contaminants. The metadata was subjected to health risk assessments using the deterministic and probabilistic methods for four age groups, and the results showed that the risks were highly unacceptable. Both methods showed that children (0–5 years old) and adults (19–70 years old) were the age groups with the highest carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks, respectively. Compared with inhalation and dermal contact, oral ingestion was the predominant exposure pathway that contributed 98.41%–99.69% of overall health risks. Spatiotemporal analysis further revealed that the overall risks first increased then decreased within five years. The risk contributions of different pollutants were also found to vary substantially with time, indicating that dynamic risk assessment is necessary. Compared with the probabilistic method, the deterministic approach relatively overestimated the true risks of OPs. The results provide a scientific basis and practical experience for scientific management and governance of abandoned pesticide sites.