Residues, Distributions, Sources, and Ecological Risks of OCPs in the Water from Lake Chaohu, China

Abstract

The levels of 18 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in the water from Lake Chaohu were measured by a solid phase extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometer detector. The spatial and temporal distribution, possible sources, and potential ecological risks of the OCPs were analyzed. The annual mean concentration for the OCPs in Lake Chaohu was 6.99 ng/L. Aldrin, HCHs, and DDTs accounted for large proportions of the OCPs. The spatial pollution followed the order of Central Lakes > Western Lakes > Eastern Lakes and water area. The sources of the HCHs were mainly from the historical usage of lindane. DDTs were degraded under aerobic conditions, and the main sources were from the use of technical DDTs. The ecological risks of 5 OCPs were assessed by the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method in the order of heptachlor > γ-HCH > p,p′-DDT > aldrin > endrin. The combining risks of all sampling sites were MS > JC > ZM > TX, and those of different species were crustaceans > fish > insects and spiders. Overall, the ecological risks of OCP contaminants on aquatic animals were very low.

Concentrations and potential health hazards of organochlorine pesticides in shallow groundwater of Taihu Lake region, China

“…β-HCH was the predominant HCH isomers in the shallow groundwater, and the β-/(α + γ)-HCH ratio of the 89% shallow groundwater samples were greater than 0.5. These observations indicated that the sources of the HCHs were mainly from the historical use of lindane after a period of degradation (Liu et al, 2012), an earlier study also demonstrated lindane was used in this region (Qiu et al, 2004). HCB has never been used directly as a pesticide in China, but has been used to produce pentachlorophenol (PCP) and pentachlorophenol-Na (PCP-Na), reagent and fireworks (Wei et al, 2007).…”

Temporal and spatial variations of organochlorine pesticides in the suspended particulate matter from Lake Chaohu, China

“…The possible sources of HCHs in the environment are historical residues or recent inputs of industrial HCHs or lindane, which can be identified by their isomer ratios, such as ␣-/␥-HCH and ␤-/(␣+␥)-HCH (Iwata et al, 1993(Iwata et al, , 1995Willett et al, 1998;Walker et al, 1999;Liu et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2012;Ouyang et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2013a;Xu et al, 2013). The a-/␥-HCH ratio for technical HCH ranges from 4 to 7, while that for lindane is less than 0.1.…”

Levels and patterns of organochlorine pesticides in agricultural soils in an area of extensive historical cotton cultivation in Henan province, China

“…This indicates that the source of HCH might be the use of lindane (Yang et al 2010). The β-/(α+γ)-HCH ratio can be used to identify the history of HCH use, and 0.5 has been used as a threshold (Liu et al 2012). According to the analysis in the present study, the β-/ (α+γ) -HCH ratios of the all soil samples were 0.5, suggesting some recent use of lindane or the existence of an atmospheric source for the input (Liu et al 2012).…”