Assessing the role of the “estuarine filter” for emerging contaminants: pharmaceuticals, perfluoroalkyl compounds and plasticisers in sediment cores from two contrasting systems in the southern U.K.

Celis-Hernández, Omar; Cundy, Andrew B.; Croudace, Ian W.; Ward, Raymond D.; Busquets, Rosa; Wilkinson, John

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2020.116610

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Estuaries have been regarded as pollutant filters, 4 and with the pollution in these ecosystems being recently highlighted, a global estuaries monitoring program was launched in the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030). 5 In estuaries, tidal currents can significantly influence water quality parameters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Source Apportionment, Hydrodynamic Influence, and Environmental Stress of Pharmaceuticals in a Microtidal Estuary with Multiple Outlets in South China

Ruan

Huang

et al. 2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Pharmaceutical residues in the environment are of great concern as ubiquitous emerging contaminants. This study investigated the presence of 40 pharmaceuticals in water and sediment of the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) in the wet season of 2020. Among psychiatric drugs, only diazepam was found in water samples while six of them were detected in the sediment. The Σantibiotics levels ranged from 6.18 to 35.9 ng/L and 2.63 to 140 ng/g dry weight in water and sediment samples, respectively. Fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines were found well settling in the outlet sediment, while sulfonamides could be released from disturbed sediment under stronger tidal wash-out conditions. After entering the marine waters, pharmaceuticals tended to deposit at the PRE mouth by the influence of the plume bulge and onshore invasion of deep shelf waters. Low ecological risks to the aquatic organisms and of causing antimicrobial resistance were identified. Likewise, hydrological modeling results revealed insignificant risks: erythromycin-H 2 O and sulfamethoxazole discharged through the outlets constituted 30.8% and 6.74% of their environmental capacity, respectively. Source apportionment revealed that pharmaceutical discharges through the Humen and Yamen outlets were predominantly of animal origin. Overall, our findings provide strategic insights on environmental regulations to further minimize the environmental stress of pharmaceuticals in the PRE.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Source Apportionment, Hydrodynamic Influence, and Environmental Stress of Pharmaceuticals in a Microtidal Estuary with Multiple Outlets in South China

Ruan

Huang

et al. 2022

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…The mean concentration of PFASs was slightly higher in upstream (63.58 ng/L) than in downstream (60.79 ng/L), potentially caused by river dilution. A number of studies have noted that the total concentration of PFASs in river are higher than those in sea because estuaries could reduce the transfer of PFASs to the sea via the action that PFASs sink into sediments and thus preventing direct entry into marine environments (Cundy and Croudace, 2017;Celis-Hernandez et al, 2021). The concentration of PFASs in study river was at a lower level than that in the Daling River Basin and Maozhou River Basin (Wang et al, 2016a;Li et al, 2020a).…”

Section: Concentration and Composition Of Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances In Watermentioning

confidence: 88%

“…The concentration of PFASs was 50.03-162.26 ng/g•dw with a mean of 131.44 ng/ g•dw in downstream of the water supply river. Comparison with literature showed that the observed PFAS concentration in downstream was much higher than the ΣPFASs of the Songhua River (0.143-1.41 ng/g•dw), the Baiyangdian Lake (0.48-30 ng/g•dw), the southern Beaulieu River (0.2-5.3 ng/ g•dw), the Danjiangkou Reservoir (0.07-1.62 ng/g•dw), and the Taihu Lake (1.11-8.21 ng/g•dw) (Guo et al, 2015;Guo et al, 2020;Li et al, 2020b;Celis-Hernandez et al, 2021). Besides, the sediment concentration of PFBA was at a high level compared with the situations of other parts of the world.…”

Section: Concentration and Composition Of Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances In Sedimentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occurrence, Profile, and Potential Risks of Novel and Legacy Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Bullfrogs: Pilot Study in an Intensive Aquaculture Region, China

Sun

Xiong

et al. 2021

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have captured worldwide attention due to their persistent and bioaccumulative characteristics. The bullfrog is a highly nutritious and edible aquatic product, but the PFAS accumulation characteristics of bullfrogs had not been paid attention. The present study analyzed the PFAS concentrations in different tissues of cultured bullfrogs and relevant water and sediments collected from the aquaculture region in the coastal area of South China. Results showed that total PFAS concentrations were 50.26–364.25 ng/L in water, with a mean of 135.58 ng/L; concentrations in effluent water were significantly higher than those in influent water, which means bullfrog farming could increase contaminants into the surroundings. The total PFAS concentrations varied from 2.89 to 162.26 ng/g·dw in sediment. The distribution profile of PFASs in sediment was similar to that of water, with short chain playing a significant role. Total PFASs in bullfrog tissues were 3.36–84.07 ng/g·dw, with the highest values in the digestive system (intestines and stomach). As for one novel PFAS alternative, chlorinated polyfluorinated ether sulfonate (F-53B) was found at high detectable levels in all habitat samples and had a higher value of logarithmic bioaccumulation factors. The estimated dietary intake (EDI) for residents in the study area was generally higher than that in other regions; however, the hazard ratios (HRs) for most detected PFASs were far below the safety threshold value “1.” These results suggest that frequent consumption of these bullfrogs would basically not cause severe health effects on local residents in terms of PFASs.

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“…Besides that, during production of polymeric materials many additives such as plasticizers, stabilizers, antioxidants and biocides are commonly used (Hahladakis et al, 2018). These chemicals can be released to the environment due to plastic degradation and can also be toxic to the estuarine biota (Anbumani and Kakkar, 2018;Celis-Hernandez et al, 2020b).…”

Section: The Presence Of Plastics In Estuarine Biotamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Estuaries often receive high levels of urban effluent, which carry contaminants from human activities such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, antibiotics, personal care products and other contaminants of emerging concern (Loos et al, 2013;Pintado-Herrera et al, 2017;Celis-Hernandez et al, 2020b). Also, port and fishing activities often release chemicals to estuaries such as heavy metals from antifouling paints (AFPs) (e.g.…”

Section: Plastic Toxicity In Estuariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fate of plastic litter within estuarine compartments: An overview of current knowledge for the transboundary issue to guide future assessments

Pinheiro

Agostini

Lima³

et al. 2021

Environmental Pollution

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Plastics can enter biogeochemical cycles and thus be found in most ecosystems. Most studies emphasize plastic pollution in oceanic ecosystems even though rivers and estuaries are acknowledged as the main sources of plastics to the oceans. This review detected few studies approaching the transboundary issue, as well as patterns of estuarine gradients in predicting plastic distribution and accumulation in water, sediments, and organisms. Quantities of plastics in estuaries reach up to 45,500 items m À3 in water, 567,000 items m À3 in sediment, and 131 items per individual in the biota. The role of rivers and estuaries in the transport of plastics to the ocean is far from fully understood due to small sample sizes, short-term approaches, sampling techniques that underestimate small plastics, and the use of site-specific sampling rather than covering environmental gradients. Microfibres are the most commonly found plastic type in all environmental matrices but efforts to re-calculate pathways using novel sampling techniques and estimates are incipient. Microplastic availability to estuarine organisms and rising/sinking is determined by polymer characteristics and spatio-temporal fluctuations in physicochemical, biological, and mineralogical factors. Key processes governing plastic contamination along estuarine trophic webs remain unclear, as most studies used "species" as an ecological unit rather than trophic/functional guilds and ontogenetic shifts in feeding behaviour to understand communities and intraspecific relationships, respectively. Efforts to understand contamination at the tissue level and the contribution of biofouling organisms as vectors of contaminants onto plastic surfaces are increasing. In conclusion, rivers and estuaries still require attention with regards to accurate sampling and conclusions. Multivariate analysis and robust models are necessary to predict the fate of micro-and macroplastics in estuarine environments; and the inclusion of the socio-economic aspects in modelling techniques seems to be relevant regarding management approaches.

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Assessing the role of the “estuarine filter” for emerging contaminants: pharmaceuticals, perfluoroalkyl compounds and plasticisers in sediment cores from two contrasting systems in the southern U.K.

Cited by 19 publications

References 51 publications

Source Apportionment, Hydrodynamic Influence, and Environmental Stress of Pharmaceuticals in a Microtidal Estuary with Multiple Outlets in South China

Source Apportionment, Hydrodynamic Influence, and Environmental Stress of Pharmaceuticals in a Microtidal Estuary with Multiple Outlets in South China

Occurrence, Profile, and Potential Risks of Novel and Legacy Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Bullfrogs: Pilot Study in an Intensive Aquaculture Region, China

The fate of plastic litter within estuarine compartments: An overview of current knowledge for the transboundary issue to guide future assessments

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