Significant riverine inputs of typical plastic additives-phthalate esters from the Pearl River Delta to the northern South China Sea

Anthropogenic Impacts on Organophosphate Ester Loads to an Urban Estuary in South China

“…With high OPE concentrations and large river discharge, Humen dominated the riverine inputs of OPEs by contributing 5940 and 14,500 kg to the PRE in the dry and wet seasons, respectively. This result is consistent with previous reports on antibiotics and phthalates in the same region, 4,6,13 indicating that Humen is the major contributor to many emerging contaminants. The riverine inputs of OPEs from the eastern riverine outlets were greater than those from the western ones, which accounted for 78.5% and 89.4% of total input during the dry and wet seasons, respectively.…”

“…42 In contrast, the annual riverine input of OPEs to the PRE is greater than those of antibiotics (16,400 kg year −1 ) and organophosphorus pesticides (17,700 kg year −1 ) 13 but much lower than that of phthalates (139 × 10 4 kg year −1 ). 4 These findings show that the PRE is still a highly human-impacted estuary, receiving high loads of emerging contaminants from the urbanized areas. Riverine inputs of OPEs differed between dry and wet seasons due to seasonal variations in river discharge in each riverine outlet.…”

“…Although riverine inputs of OPEs from the PRD have been effectively reduced, the PRE still received a greater amount of OPEs than the Jiaozhou and Laizhou Bays (660 and 3580 kg year –1 , respectively), attributing to a much larger river discharge to the PRE than the Jiaozhou and Laizhou Bays (4.55 × 10 9 m 3 ) . In contrast, the annual riverine input of OPEs to the PRE is greater than those of antibiotics (16,400 kg year –1 ) and organophosphorus pesticides (17,700 kg year –1 ) but much lower than that of phthalates (139 × 10 4 kg year –1 ) . These findings show that the PRE is still a highly human-impacted estuary, receiving high loads of emerging contaminants from the urbanized areas.…”

“…In recent years, about 2500 new chemicals have been reviewed by the government and then introduced into the market in the United States annually . Many chemicals as additives can be readily released into the environment during their lifecycles and carried to rivers and then estuaries, potentially endangering the aquatic ecosystems. − Notably, estuaries serve as crucial ecological habitats and fishery areas as well as buffers between the land and sea. Understanding anthropogenic impacts on chemical contamination in estuarine ecosystems is, therefore, indispensable for supporting their environmental management and sustainable development.…”

Air–Sea Exchange and Atmospheric Deposition of Phthalate Esters in the South China Sea

“…Recently, PAEs were measured in the Pearl River, with ∑ 6 PAEs (DMP, DEP, BBP, DnBP, DEHP, DOP) ranging from 500 to 28,100 ng/L, which are 2–3 orders of magnitude higher than this study . Evidently, the river discharge of the Pearl River could be a major input vector for PAEs in the Pearl River Delta and the South China Sea . Compared with other coastal regions of East Asia (Table S12), the PAE concentrations are 1–3 orders of magnitude lower than those in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea (∑ 16 PAEs: 2880 and 1600 ng/L), in the Yangtze River Estuary (∑ 16 PAEs: 180–3421 ng/L), and in the East China Sea and Korean South Sea (∑ 7 PAEs (DMP, DEP, DiBP, DnBP, BBP, DEHP, DOP): 63–169 ng/L) .…”