Heavy metal pollution, ecological risk, spatial distribution, and source identification in sediments of the Lijiang River, China

First Experimental Evidence for the Presence of Potentially Virulent Klebsiella oxytoca in 14 Species of Commonly Consumed Aquatic Animals, and Phenotyping and Genotyping of K. oxytoca Isolates

“…A high level of the bioaccumulation of toxic heavy metals (e.g., Cd 2+ , Cr 3+ , Hg 2+ , Ni 2+ , and Pb 2+ ) through the food chain is a grave threat to human health, due to their non-degradable nature [36]. Numerous studies have reported heavy metal residues in various aquatic environments and species of food animals (shellfish, fish, crustaceans, and crabs) sampled worldwide, particularly in developing nations [13][14][15]18,37]. In the recent surveys by our research group [17,38,39], the heavy metal-tolerant waterborne pathogen Vibrio cholerae has been discovered in many species of aquatic animals.…”

Spatial and temporal variation of dissolved heavy metals in the Lijiang River, China: implication of rainstorm on drinking water quality

“…The average annual precipitation and temperature of the Lijiang basin is ~ 1890.4 mm and ~ 19.2°C (Xiao et al, 2021).Lijiang River is situated in the typical karst area characterized by the pure and thick carbonate strata (Xu et al, 2016).Karst aquifers have special structures, geological backgrounds, hydrodynamic conditions, and hydro-chemical characteristics (Zhang et al, 2014), which may bring higher risk of pollutants going into the water. Due to the increase of anthropogenic activities (tourism, mining and industrial), HMs in Lijiang aquatic environment accumulated higher than the background values (Xiao et al, 2021;Xu et al, 2016). As the signi cant drinking water source for local resident, it is essential to pay more attentions on the water quality of Lijiang River.…”

“…The Lijiang River is a typical karst river which the bedrock is characterized by the pure and thick carbonate strata (Xu et al, 2016). Due to agricultural, industrial and leisure activities, concentration of HMs in the sediments of Lijiang River are much higher than background and standard level (Xiao et al, 2021;Xu et al, 2016). Due to recent development trend in China, this relatively small watershed being one of the top tourist destinations, is hosting nearly 100 million travelers annually (Shahab et al, 2020).…”

“…Lijiang River is the main source of drinking water for the millions citizens in the Guilin city (Xiao et al, 2021). As rainy and humid monsoon is common climate in Guilin all the year, rainstorms could signi cantly affect the quality of Lijiang water.…”

“…Rainstorm runoff is one of the key drivers on the rivers' water quality deterioration, carries and releases contaminants from the point and non-point sources to the consumable waterbodies (Ma et al, 2015). Reports of HMs in Lijiang basin are alarming (Wu et al, 2020;Xiao et al, 2021;Xu et al, 2016), hence, it is essential particularly to investigate the in uence of rainstorm in the study area. To the best of our knowledge, this is the rst time to take the climate conditions into account in studying the dissolved HMs of Lijiang River water.…”