A Tiered Ecological Risk Assessment of Caffeine by Using Species Sensitivity Distribution Method in the Nansi Lake Basin.

Caffeine has been reported toxic to aquatic organisms, and it frequently occurs at relatively high concentrations in most of surface waters. However, it is difficult to control caffeine pollution because of the lack of Water Quality Criteria (WQC). In this study, species sensitivity distribution method and Log-normal model were applied to derive caffeine WQC as 83.7 ng/L. Meanwhile, concentrations of caffeine in the Nansi Lake basin were detected in 29 sampling sites, with the mean of 99.3 ng/L. The levels of caffeine in tributaries were higher than those in the lakes. In addition, a tied ecological risk assessment method was applied to assess the adverse effect of caffeine on aquatic system. The joint probability curve indicated that ecological risk might exist 3.1% of surface water in the study area, while 5% threshold (HC5) was set up to protect aquatic species. Generally, caffeine posted a low risk to aquatic organisms in the Nansi Lake basin.

Chinese Technical Guideline for Deriving Water Quality Criteria for Protection of Freshwater Organisms.

In recent years, China has determined the national goal of "developing national environmental criteria", thereby promoting the rapid development of environmental quality criteria research in China. In 2017, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (MEEC, formerly the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China) issued the technical guideline for deriving water quality criteria (WQC) for protection of freshwater organisms (HJ 831-2017), and in 2022, they organized the guideline revision and issued an updated version (HJ 831-2022). The primary contents of the revision included the following. The minimum toxicity data requirements were upgraded from 6 to 10, and the species mean toxicity value was replaced by the same effect toxicity value for the criteria calculation. It is now required that the tested organisms must be distributed in China's natural fresh waters, and the toxicity data of non-native model species will no longer be used. The list of freshwater invasive species in China that cannot be used as test species was added into the guideline. The acute/chronic ratio (ACR) method for the criteria derivation and the extreme value model were deleted, and the provisions for testing the toxicity data distribution were also deleted. The exposure time of the toxicity test of various tested organisms was refined, and the priority of the toxicity data was clearly specified. This paper introduces the framework and specific technical requirements of HJ 831-2022 in detail, including data collection, pre-processing of toxicity data, criteria derivation, fitting models, and quality control. This introduction is helpful for international peers to understand the latest research progress of China's WQC.

Derivation of Water Quality Criteria for Carbamazepine and Ecological Risk Assessment in the Nansi Lake Basin.

Carbamazepine, as one of several pharmaceutical and personal care products, has gained much attention in recent years because of its continuous discharge in natural waters and toxicity to aquatic ecosystems. However, it is difficult to evaluate and manage carbamazepine pollution because of the lack of a rational and scientific Water Quality Criteria (WQC) of carbamazepine. In this study, the carbamazepine toxicity data of thirty-five aquatic species from eight taxonomic groups were selected, and the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method was applied to derive the WQC for carbamazepine based on the Log-logistic model, which was 18.4 ng/L. Meanwhile, the occurrence and distribution of carbamazepine in the Nansi Lake basin was studied. Results showed that concentrations of carbamazepine in 29 sampling sites were in the range of 3.3 to 128.2 ng/L, with the mean of 17.3 ng/L. In general, the levels of carbamazepine in tributaries were higher than those in the lakes. In addition, qualitative and quantitative ecological risk assessment methods were applied to assess the adverse effect of carbamazepine on aquatic systems. The hazard quotient (HQ) method showed that there were 24 and 5 sampling sites, in which risk levels were low and moderate, respectively. The joint probability curve (JPC) method indicated that ecological risks might exist in 1.4% and 1.0% of surface water, while a 5% threshold and 1% threshold were set up to protect aquatic species, respectively. Generally, carbamazepine posed a low risk to the aquatic organisms in the Nansi Lake basin.

[Dynamic Mechanisms of Groundwater Quality by Residual Contaminants of the Tanghe Wastewater Reservoir in Xiong'an New Area].

Tanghe wastewater reservoir(TWR) is located on the west side of Baiyangdian Lake in Xiong'an New Area, where sewage infiltration and irrigation has been taking place for 40 years, and a large number of contaminants have accumulated in the unsaturated zone. Identifying the mechanisms by which this combined system contributes to groundwater hydrochemical dynamics is important for the protection of the water environment in the area. Hydrogeochemical methods such as tracing and improved chlor-alkali index are used to analyze the spatial and temporal characteristics and evolution mechanisms of shallow groundwater. The study shows that the groundwater chemistry in the sewage reservoir area is SO4·HCO3-Na type, with an average sewage fraction of 48.4%, and the contribution of Na+ from ion exchange and halite dissolution is 29.9% and 8.6%, respectively. The chemical type of groundwater in the sewage irrigation area is SO4·HCO3-Na·Mg, the average sewage fraction is 58.3%, and Na+ consumption of ion exchange is 8.1%. The mix dilution of precipitation and irrigation leads to a reduction in the effluent fraction and saturation index in the groundwater, and promotes the adsorption of Na+ from groundwater into the soil. Denitrification in aquifers can effectively reduce groundwater nitrate pollution. In addition, the sewage fraction before and after the restoration of the reservoir was 61.5% and 49.3%, respectively. Pollutants retained in the sewage infiltration and irrigation combined system will continue to affect the quality of shallow groundwater with varying degrees of mixing and water-rock interaction driven by rainfall and irrigation.

Spatial Distribution and Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals in Sediments of a Heavily Polluted Maozhou River, Southern China.

In this study, eighteen 3.30-m-long sediment profiles were sampled in Maozhou River. In order to investigate the sediment pollution status and potential sources of heavy metals, we performed heavy metal contents, grain size, organic matter concentration, moisture concentration and total phosphorus analysis, and assessed the ecological risk of heavy metal pollution in the study area using enrichment coefficient, geo-accumulation index and potential ecological risk index. The results indicated that the heavy metal concentrations in the Maozhou River sediments were 3.73-417 times higher than the soil background in Guangdong Province and the average concentrations were 0.447-15.1 times higher than Chinese lacustrine sediments. The Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb contents were significantly correlated with each other (p < 0.01), indicating similar deposition process. In addition, spatial and vertical distribution of heavy metals showed similar variation patterns and extreme high contents are distributed in the interchange area. The ecological risk of Maozhou River was much higher than other river sediments in Guangdong Province, especially for Cu, Cd and Ni. The variation pattern of potential ecological risk index is similar with that of heavy metals and the assessment results indicated high ecological risk in the Maozhou River sediments, which is in good agreement with the EF and Igeo results. This study would provide some references for the treatment of heavy metals' pollution in Maozhou River.

Assessment of heavy metal content, distribution, and sources in Nansi Lake sediments, China.

Much attention has been paid to the heavy metal contamination of lake sediments in rapidly developing regions. In this study, heavy metal (Cd, Cr, Co, Ni, Mn, Pb, As, Cu, and Zn) concentrations in sediment surface samples and cores from the Nansi Lake were investigated to ascertain the potential sources and environmental risks of heavy metals. The average concentration of heavy metals was 0.16-16.04 times background concentrations. The enrichment factor, Tomlinson pollution load index, geo accumulation index, positive definite matrix factor analysis (PMF), and potential ecological risk index were used to assess heavy metal concentrations and explore the evolution of heavy metal sources, and result indicated that Cd reached moderate pollution levels, which is the most polluted heavy metal in the history and present, while the remaining heavy metals are at low or no pollution levels. The contribution of Cd to RI exceeded 76%, which is the decisive factor in the ecological risk of Nansi Lake. The result of ecological risk showed that the risk level for most of Nansi Lake is medium, and some areas of Zhaoyang Lake and Weishan Lake reach high levels. The PMF results showed that there are four main factors influencing heavy metal concentrations in Nansi Lake sediments, including industrial sources, fertilizers, and herbicides used in agricultural production, traffic-related emissions, and mineral mining. Among these factors, industrial and mineral mining sources were found to be the most important, and the highest contribution rate occurred in the -10cm (1960s). Although the contribution of fertilizers and herbicides is lower than that of other sources, increasing trend should be a warning sign that Cd has reached a high ecological risk level in Nansi Lake sediments.

Removal of Berberine from Wastewater by MIL-101(Fe): Performance and Mechanism.

The water contamination from pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) has attracted worldwide attention in recent years because of its threat to public health. Berberine is a typical anti-inflammatory medicine and berberine wastewater is difficult to be treated due to its high toxicity, poor biodegradability, and high acidity. Metal-organic frameworks would be a good choice to remove berberine from wastewater due to its advantages of high specific surface area, ultrahigh porosity, and structural and functional tunability. In this study, MIL-101(Fe) was synthesized and used for the removal of berberine from water. Experimental results indicated that MIL-101(Fe) showed promising characteristics when berberine was adsorbed in acidic wastewater. The high concentration of chloride in berberine wastewater could promote the adsorption of berberine by MIL-101(Fe). Fitting of batch equilibrium data showed that MIL-101(Fe) had a maximum adsorption capacity of 163.93 mg/g for berberine removal at pH 7, and the berberine sorption on MIL-101(Fe) followed the pseudo-second-order model. Furthermore, the associate mechanism for berberine removal was proposed by characterizing the material and theoretical calculation. The X-ray power diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that no chemical reaction occurred during the adsorption of berberine by MIL-101(Fe). Also, the theoretical calculation results indicated that π-π interactions may play the main role in the adsorption of berberine onto MIL-101(Fe). The findings of this study suggest that MIL-101(Fe) is a promising sorbent for berberine removal from wastewater.

Modeling the ecological status response of rivers to multiple stressors using machine learning: A comparison of environmental DNA metabarcoding and morphological data.

Understanding the ecological status response of rivers to multiple stressors is a precondition for river restoration and management. However, this requires the collection of appropriate data, including environmental variables and the status of aquatic organisms, and analysis via a suitable model that captures the nonlinear relationships between ecological status and various stressors. The morphological approach has been the standard data collection method employed for establishing the status of aquatic organisms. However, this approach is very laborious and restricted to a specific set of organisms. Recently, an environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding data approach has been developed that is far more efficient than the morphological approach and potentially applicable to an unlimited set of organisms. However, it remains unclear how well eDNA metabarcoding data reflects the impacts of environmental stressors on aquatic ecosystems compared with morphological data, which is essential for clarifying the potential applications of eDNA metabarcoding data in the ecological monitoring and management of rivers. The present work addresses this issue by modeling organism diversity based on three indices with respect to multiple environmental variables in both the catchment and reach scales. This is done by corresponding support vector machine (SVM) models constructed from eDNA metabarcoding and morphological data on 24 sampling locations in the Taizi River basin, China. According to the mean absolute percent error (MAPE) between the measured diversity index values and the index values predicted by the SVM models, the SVM models constructed from eDNA metabarcoding data (MAPE = 3.87) provide more accurate predictions than the SVM models constructed from morphological data (MAPE = 28.36), revealing that the eDNA metabarcoding data better reflects environmental conditions. In addition, the sensitivity of SVM model predictions of the ecological indices for both catchment-scale and reach-scale stressors is evaluated, and the stressors having the greatest impact on the ecological status of rivers are identified. The results demonstrate that the ecological status of rivers is more sensitive to environmental stressors at the reach scale than to stressors at the catchment scale. Therefore, our study is helpful in exploring the potential applications of eDNA metabarcoding data and SVM modeling in the ecological monitoring and management of rivers.

History traces of HCHs and DDTs by groundwater dating and their behaviours and ecological risk in northeast China.

Organochlorine pesticides legacies, such as hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), remained in sediments or soils due to their difficulty in decomposition, especially in the agricultural areas where pesticides were widely used historically. Different from the little disturbed depositional environment of lake, it was difficult for rivers to explore the timing of DDT and HCH inputs through dating sediment cores as records. Based on groundwater dating, this study ascertained the historic pollution of DDT and HCH in Taizi River basin. HCH and DDT residues in groundwater were consistent with the historical production and usage, which increased from the 1950s to the 1980s and declined from the 1980s to the 1990s. Moreover, the partitioning behaviours of HCHs and DDTs in surface water and suspended particulate matter were discussed. It was revealed that ß-HCH and o,p'-DDT were more likely to attach to suspended particulate matter than other isomers. Furthermore, species sensitivity distribution curves were generated using 54 toxicity data records to assess the risk of HCHs and DDTs in water and suspended particulate matter. These results indicated that p,p'-DDT in surface water posed a high risk to 95% of the aquatic life in the long run.

China national water quality criteria for the protection of freshwater life: Ammonia.

Ammonia is one of the two mandatory indexes for China's water environment pollution control. The current China ammonia water quality standard does not reflect the effect of water quality parameters on ammonia toxicity. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China just released the China National Aquatic Life Criteria Report for ammonia. This paper discusses the technical route, formulation process and results of the national ammonia criteria. Based on China's own technical guidelines, a total of 259 acceptable acute and 44 acceptable chronic data for ammonia were adopted. The temperature of the water body corresponding to the ammonia criteria was divided into 6 grades, and the pH was divided into 12 grades, which constitutes 72 groups of water quality conditions. Based on the empirical formulas recommended by USEPA, the ammonia toxicity data was adjusted, and the optimal fitting model was used to derive the 72 short-term criteria and the 72 long-term criteria for ammonia. In terms of criteria derivation, the method used by the USEPA to extrapolate at the criteria level has been improved and replaced with extrapolation at the species level, making the final criteria value more accurate.

Occurrence, distribution and ecological risk assessment of the herbicide simazine: A case study.

The occurrence and distributions of simazine, and its environmental behaviors were studied in Taizi River, China. Results showed that concentration of simazine in surface water and suspended solids (SS) were in the range of 35-1150 ng L-1and 0.00-1075 ng g-1 with mean value of 240.26 ng L-1 and 311.68 ng g-1, respectively. A significant correlation between the concentrations of simazine and organic carbon was observed in both surface water and SS (r1 = 0.82, n1 = 15, r2 = 0.68, n2 = 10). and organic carbon in SS was more adsorptive to simazine. Moreover, the concentrations of simazine in groundwater were negatively correlated to the well depths and the distances to the corn fields, and higher concentration of simazine corresponds to younger groundwater. The criterion continuous concentration (CCC) of simazine to Chinese native aquatic species was derived based on the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) to assess the ecological risk. The CCC for simazine was derived to be 4.8 µg L-1. Furthermore, Ecological risk assessment through risk quotient (RQ) showed that simazine presented low risk (RQ < 0.1) in some of sampling sites, while simazine posed medium risk (0.1 < RQ < 1) only on a few sampling sites nearby corn fields. The study contributed a better sight on the presence of simazine in river and its ecological risk to native aquatic species, and provided information for further studies of simazine potential hazards to the aquatic ecosystem.

Oxidative Damage and Genetic Toxicity Induced by DBP in Earthworms (Eisenia fetida).

Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) is one of the most ubiquitous plasticizers used worldwide. However, it has negatives effects on the soil, water, atmosphere, and other environmental media and can cause serious pollution. According to the artificial soil test and previous studies, this study was conducted to evaluate the toxicity of earthworms induced by DBP at different concentrations (0, 0.1, 1.0, 10, and 50 mg kg-1) on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th days of exposure. The variations in the antioxidant activities of enzymes, such as catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST), in the amounts of malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) and in the amount of DNA damage were measured to evaluate the toxic impact of DBP in earthworms. Upon exposure to DBP, the SOD, CAT, POD, and GST activities were significantly increased, with the exception of the 0.1 mg kg-1 treatment dose. High concentrations of DBP (10 and 50 mg kg-1) induced superfluous ROS to be produced and caused the MDA content to increase significantly. Therefore, we proposed that DBP led to DNA damage in earthworm coelomocytes in a dose-dependent manner, which means that DBP is a source of oxidative damage and genetic toxicity in earthworms.

Tracking variations of fluorescent dissolved organic matter during wastewater treatment by accumulative fluorescence emission spectroscopy combined with principal component, second derivative and canonical correlation analyses.

Accumulative fluorescence emission (AFE) spectroscopy combined with principal component analysis (PCA), second derivative and canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was firstly developed into an available tool to track variations in dissolved organic matter (DOM) fractions and contents during wastewater treatment. Samples were collected from a wastewater treatment plant with a traditional anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A2O) process. The AFE spectroscopy deduced from the sum of intensities along the excitation wavelengths of fluorescence excitation emission matrix (EEM), could distinctly track tyrosine-like, tryptophan-like, fulvic-like substances. The AFE spectroscopy with the PCA not only disaggregated DOM fractions into the tyrosine-like, tryptophan-like, microbial humic-like, fulvic-like and humic-like substances, but discriminated DOM fractions from the physical sedimentation, anaerobic/anoxic and oxic processes. Absolute areas of fluorescence components obtained by the second derivative AFF spectra had positive liner correlations with Fmax of the relevant components modeling from EEM-PARAFAC, especially the tryptophan-like (R2 = 0.95, p < 0.01) and tyrosine-like (R2 = 0.83, p < 0.01) substances. The CCA of the sites presented that the potential factors contained the tryptophan-like and tyrosine-like substances. This indirectly proved that the tryptophan-like and tyrosine-like substances were the dominant components of fluorescent DOM, which were further removed in A2O than the other fluorescent components. The CCA of the fluorescent components exhibited that the potential factors included the sites #1 to #6, which were located in the original wastewater, sand setting, primary sedimentation, anaerobic, anoxic, facultative units. This elaborated that the fluorescent components were mainly degraded in the physical sedimentation, anaerobic and anoxic processes.

Derivation of predicted no-effect concentration and ecological risk for atrazine better based on reproductive fitness.

Atrazine (ATZ) is an herbicide most commonly used in China and other regions of the world. It is reported toxic to aquatic organisms, and frequently occurs at relatively high concentrations. Currently, ATZ has been proved to affect reproduction of aquatic species at much lower levels. So it is controversial to perform ecological risk assessment using predicted no-effect concentrations (PENCs) derived from traditional endpoints, which fail to provide adequate protection to aquatic organisms. In this study, PNECs of ATZ were derived based on six endpoints of survival, growth, behavior, biochemistry, genetics and reproduction. The PNEC derived from reproductive lesion was 0.044µg ATZ L-1, which was obviously lower than that derived from other endpoints. In addition, a tiered ecological risk assessment was conducted in the Taizi River based on six PNECs derived from six categories of toxicity endpoints. Results of these two methods of ecological risk assessment were consistent with each other, and the risk level of ATZ to aquatic organisms reached highest as taking reproductive fitness into account. The joint probability indicated that severe ecological risk rooting in reproduction might exist 93.9% and 99.9% of surface water in the Taizi River, while 5% threshold (HC5) and 1% threshold (HC1) were set up to protect aquatic organisms, respectively. We hope the present work could provide valuable information to manage and control ATZ pollution.

[Characteristics of Carbon and Nitrogen in the Downstream Columnar Sediment of Maozhou River, Shenzhen].

Based on the determinations of total nitrogen (TN), organic matter (OM), carbon-nitrogen ratio (C/N), δ15 N, and δ13 C on 12 sediment cores, the distribution characteristics and the sources of nitrogen and organic matter were analyzed in sediments from the lower reaches and main tributaries of the Maozhou River. The results showed that the average concentrations of total nitrogen (TN) and organic matter (OM) were 1815.37 mg·kg-1 and 22 401.68 mg·kg-1, respectively, in the Maozhou River sediments, which were higher than in TaihuLake and ChaohuLake. The levels of TN and OM in the study area were high and varied greatly with the increase of depth. The δ15 N content in the sediments of the MaozhouRiver downstream ranged from 2.20 ‰ to 32.78 ‰, while the δ13 C content ranged from -27.53 ‰ to -21.95 ‰. The average concentrations of δ15 N and δ13 C were 6.78 ‰ and -25.41 ‰. Moreover, the C/N ratio ranged from 0.49 to -18.23. The δ13 C varied slightly with the increase of depth, while δ15 N and C/N varied greatly. A source analysis in the study area indicated that C3 plants and chemical fertilizer were the main sources in the surface sediments (0-40 cm) downstream of the Maozhou River. Furthermore, algae were the main sources of organic matter in the deep sediments downstream of the Maozhou River and in tributary sediments of the Shajing River. Nitrogen in the surface sediments (0-40 cm) downstream of the Maozhou River mainly comes from inorganic fertilizer and soil organic nitrogen, while nitrogen in the Maozhou River deep sediments and Shajing River sediments mainly come from soil erosion and soil organic nitrogen.

[Modeling of Water Quality Response to Land-use Patterns in Taizi River Basin Based on Partial Least Squares].

Land use change in river basin is one of the most significant factors that influence river water quality. Based on remote sensing images and river water quality data of Taizi River Basin, partial least squares (PLS) model was applied to explore the relationship between water quality and land use patterns at sub-watershed scale. In this study, PLS model was established by using the percentage of area of land use patterns from seven different sub-watersheds as the variables and the concentrations of four water quality parameters as the observations. The established model was further tested with the data from other sub-watersheds in Taizi River Basin. The results indicated that total nitrogen (TN) and nitrate (NO3-) were significantly associated with land use types in Taizi River Basin with determination coefficient (R2) greater than 0.62. As for chloride (Cl-) and sulfate (SO42-), measured values and fitted values had a relatively low fitting precision (R2<0.5), which meant land use pattern was not the main factor affecting the concentrations of Cl-and SO42- in river water. Meanwhile, river water quality had a strong correlation with the percentage of area of unused land at the sub-basin scale (influence coefficient>0.24), although unused land area in the Taizi river basin was small.

Fate of phthalate esters in municipal wastewater treatment plant and their environmental impact.

The fate and distribution of six phthalate esters (PAEs) in a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) employing an anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A(2)/O) process were investigated. The process achieved relatively high removal efficiencies of PAEs in the range 55-97%. It illustrated that biotransformation and sludge-adsorption were major elimination pathways by analyzing the mass balance and flux of PAEs. About 83% of ∑PAEs was entirely removed by A(2)/O bioreactors indicating biotransformation is the dominant removal mechanism. PAEs with shorter alkyl chain length and higher water solubility were more biodegradable. Less than 6% of ∑PAEs were removed by excess sludge adsorption. The sludge-adsorption capacity of PAE depends on its hydrophobicity. The levels and fluxes of PAEs were analyzed by monitoring different sites of the receiving river of the WWTP effluent to clarify the potential impact of discharge. Daily flux of PAEs upstream and downstream of the discharging point were 113 kg·d(-1) and 205 kg·d(-1), respectively, which were higher than the effluent devotion value of 6.67 kg·d(-1). It suggested that the emissions from the WWTP appeared to be less than those from the other possible sources, such as potential untreated discharge and surface runoff. Improvement of wastewater collection efficiencies is necessary to eliminate the PAE load in the urban river.

Nitrogen aspects of hydrological processes: a case study in Likeng landfill, Guangzhou, China.

The nitrogen aspects of hydrological processes must be determined to identify nitrogen sources and relevant mechanisms. Landfills are the dominant disposal approach to deal with solid waste in urban areas in China. Landfills require adequate land and pose a potential threat to aquifer contamination, particularly in the humid zone, such as Guangzhou. The unlined Likeng landfill in Guangzhou was investigated in three campaigns during the period 2001-2007: water was sampled and analyzed for major ions, heavy metals, and stable isotopes of (18)O and (2)H in water, and (18)O and (15)N in nitrate. Contamination sources, water components, and groundwater flow were examined, revealing a mixture of various sources from landfill effluent, septic tank leakage, fertilizer, and manure following complex processes of recharge, mixing, and denitrification. The effluent from the landfill was rich in Na(+), Ca(2+), K(+), HCO3(-), and Cl(-) ions. A similar process of high NH4(+) in effluent resulting in episodic increases in NO3(-) because of NH4(+) oxidation was found in Likeng landfill when compared with landfills in Denmark and the USA. Twenty-five percent of the precipitation was lost to evaporation before recharging the aquifer, indicating a possible maximum recharge rate of 75% and the potential for a large amount of water penetration to the landfill if not well constructed. Apparent groundwater flow velocity of 3.7 × 10(-7) m s(-1) (11.67 m/a) was found for the front of the effluent under the landfill by considering the vertical and horizontal flow. These findings provide background to delineate the plume from Likeng landfill and to conceptualize the natural attenuation processes of other toxic compounds, which are imperative for any remediation strategy.

[Spatial distribution and risk assessment of atrazine in Taizi River basin, China].

Atrazine (AT) has been detected in surface water and groundwater in many countries and regions around the world. Concentrations of AT in surface water, suspended particulate matter (SPM) and groundwater samples collected from the Taizi River basin, in northeast China, were analyzed using a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) in order to clarify their spatial distribution and environmental behavior, and to assess their potential ecological risk. Concentrations of AT varied from 0-734.0 ng x L(-1) for surface water, 0-1 493.6 ng x g(-1) for SPM and 30.0-245.0 ng x L(-1) for groundwater, with averages of 335.3 ng x L(-1), 382.9 ng x L(-1), and 104.4 ng x L(-1), respectively. The logarithm in situ SPM-water partition coefficients (lg k(oc)) of AT were in the range of 3.50-4.14 indicating that adsorption of AT from the aqueous phase to SPM plays an important role in dissipating AT in surface water. Fluxes of AT in surface water ranged from 1.5-184.7 mg x s(-1) in the basin, calculated based on the measured flow velocity and concentrations in surface water and SPM. The maximum value of AT flux was found in the middle stream of the Taizi River (S7). The risk assessment suggested that the ecological risk of AT in surface water was low, with more than 95% of the species protected from risk in the Taizi River basin. However, the residue levels of AT in surface water of the Taizi River basin may cause potential environmental risks.

Occurrence and partitioning of phenolic endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) between surface water and suspended particulate matter in the north Tai Lake basin, eastern China.

Concentrations and distribution of octylphenol (OP), nonylphenol (NP), and bisphenol A (BPA) in surface water and suspended particulate matter (SPM) from the north Tai Lake basin, China were studied. Aqueous and particulate (dry weight) concentrations for OP, NP, and BPA varied from 10.5-1,175 ng/L to <1.52-5,365 ng/g, respectively. The spatial distribution of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in dissolved and particulate phases showed that the amount of EDCs in water that were adsorbed to SPM gradually increased from upstream to downstream. There were good correlations between particulate EDCs and particulate organic carbon, with correlation coefficients of 0.46-0.57. Regression analysis of in situ SPM-water partition coefficients (log K' oc) and log K ow for EDCs indicated that the hydrophobicity of chemicals greatly contributed to their SPM-water partitioning. Strong positive correlations (r = 0.68-0.82) among in situ log K' oc of OP, NP, and BPA and flow velocity of water were observed, indicating the critical importance of riverine hydrodynamics on the sorption of these compounds.