Wastewater discharge impact on drinking water sources along the Yangtze River (China)

Wang, Zhuomin; Shao, Dongguo; Westerhoff, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.078

Cited by 60 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It is an important freshwater resource in China and provides numerous ecological services for agriculture, industry, and transportation. The lower reaches of the Yangtze River provide 80-100% of the drinking water for economically developed and densely populated regions like Jiangsu and Shanghai [3,4], but water quality has been menaced in recent years by rapid industrialization and accelerated urbanization.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polychlorinated biphenyls in the drinking water source of the Yangtze River: characteristics and risk assessment

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: As the longest river in Asia, the Yangtze River flows through the most industrialized cities in China and provides critical ecological services for agriculture, industry, and transportation. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been banned for many years, but trace amounts of PCBs still exist as persistent organic pollutant in drinking water and are an ecotoxicological problem. In this work, we collected water, sediment, and suspended particulate matter (SPM) samples along the Yangtze River, to study the distribution and transport of PCBs for the risk assessment of the Yangtze River as a drinking water source.Results: The ΣPCBs concentrations in water, sediment, and SPM ranged in 0.04-11 ng/L, 0.33-69 ng/g, and 0.72-153 ng/L, respectively. The main pollutants were PCB17, 18, 28, 47, and 118 in the Yangtze River. The ff SW value of PCB18 and PCB28 all exceeded 0.50, whereas the ff SW value of PCB47 and PCB118 (except for PCB118 at Y-4) was less than 0.50. The toxic equivalent quantity (TEQ) range of PCBs in water and in sediment was ND-5.55 pg-TEQ/L and ND-2.51 pg-TEQ/g, respectively. Conclusions:In both water and sediment, lower chlorinated PCBs are dominant in the middle reaches and higher chlorinated PCBs are dominant at downstream. In contrast, SPM is dominated by tetra-CBs. The ff SW values reveal a net redissolution of lower PCBs from sediments to water but a net sorption of higher PCBs from water to sediment. The PCBs in water and sediment at downstream pose potential ecological risk, but the drinking water does not have a non-carcinogenic risk for humans.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polychlorinated biphenyls in the drinking water source of the Yangtze River: characteristics and risk assessment

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Using similar methodologies as applied herein, DFR levels covering the same orders of magnitude as reported herein are being predicted globally. [47][48][49][50][51][52][53] However, those studies did not focus on impacts to smaller utilities, travel times between WWTP discharges and DWTP intakes, or relate the type of treatment to the presence of CECs in DWTP intake or treated waters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drinking water vulnerability in less-populated communities in Texas to wastewater-derived contaminants

Nguyễn

Westerhoff

2019

npj Clean Water

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

De facto potable reuse occurs when treated wastewater is discharged upstream of drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) and can lead to contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) occurring in potable water. Our prior research, focusing on larger communities that each serve >10,000 people across the USA, indicates that elevated de facto reuse (DFR) occurs in Texas, and thus we added to our model DWTPs serving smaller communities to understand their vulnerability to CECs. Here, we show that twothirds of all surface water intakes in Texas were impacted by DFR at levels exceeding 90% during even mild droughts, and under average streamflow DFR levels range between 1 and 20%. DWTPs serving lower population communities (<10,000 people) have higher DFR levels, and fewer than 2% of these communities have advanced technologies (e.g., ozone, activated carbon) at DWTPs to remove CECs. Efforts to improve water quality in these less populated communities are an important priority. The model approach and results can be used to identify prioritization for monitoring and treatment of CECs, including in underserved communities, which normally lack knowledge of their impacts from DFR occurring within their watersheds.npj Clean Water (2019) 2:19 ; https://doi.

show abstract

“…Based on historical data, the annual average streamflow leaving the middle reach (26,121 m 3 /s) is roughly equivalent to the streamflow out of the lower reach (26,752 m 3 /s), which enters the East China Sea, suggesting the lower basin may be approaching a steady-state intake of river water, discharge of municipal, industrial, or agricultural wastewater, with some contribution of stormwater runoff. Annual differences in streamflow exist and are described elsewhere (Wang et al, 2017c). Later, we describe the impact on water balances of additional demands for industrial, municipal, and agricultural water.…”

Section: District-level Water Balancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Not all water intakes result in consumptive use, and a fraction of the water returns to the river. Separately, we describe how relationships between population, municipal water intake, and construction of sewage treatment plants contribute to streamflow along the Yangtze River (Wang et al, 2017c), including the following two key conclusions relevant for FEW systems: (1) municipal wastewater produced in the Yangtze River basin increased by 41% between 1998 and 2014-from 2,580 m 3 /s to 3,646 m 3 /s-in conjunction with China's investment in public infrastructure and (2) under low flow conditions in the Yangtze River near Shanghai treated wastewater contributions to river flows increased from 8% to 14% between 1998 and 2014. Figure 4 shows additional insights when municipal water consumption and total water intake is normalized to population.…”

Section: Human Water Usesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food–Energy–Water Analysis at Spatial Scales for Districts in the Yangtze River Basin (China)

Wang

Nguyễn

Westerhoff

2019

Environmental Engineering Science

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding the nexus between food, energy, and water (FEW) systems is emerging as a critical area of study since federal research agencies in North America and Europe began highlighting the needs related to data collection/management, systems optimization, and opportunities for new technologies. Little information regarding FEW systems exists across Asia, including within the Yangtze River basin, despite having 1/15th of the world's population living within the basin and generating as much as 40% of the Chinese gross domestic product. This research provides a case study of FEW systems with analysis in the Yangtze River basin, showing the spatial and temporal variations in water availability/use, food production, and energy production. At a district-level scale in China, we integrated key Chinese data sets from multiple industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors together with key land use and hydrologic information to evaluate the FEW parameters normalized to the land area of each district rather than the commonly used approach where FEW consumptive parameters are normalized to population (i.e., per capita). The results illustrated the types of data sets currently available within China to conduct FEW system analyses and identified districts that are net producers or dependents regarding food, energy, or water. The northeastern portion of the Yangtze River basin have several districts that are net negative relative to the amount of water that falls within the district boundaries versus all water uses plus evaporation, with the most stressed districts lacking as much as 0.5-1 m annually of equivalent rainfall per unit land area. The geospatial analysis concludes that policies to manage the FEW system cannot be considered for a single district alone, nor the Yangtze River watershed in its entirety, but instead needs to consider the interdependencies among districts and consider encouraging growth (agriculture, industry, or population) within more water-abundant regions.

show abstract

Wastewater discharge impact on drinking water sources along the Yangtze River (China)

Cited by 60 publications

References 32 publications

Polychlorinated biphenyls in the drinking water source of the Yangtze River: characteristics and risk assessment

Polychlorinated biphenyls in the drinking water source of the Yangtze River: characteristics and risk assessment

Drinking water vulnerability in less-populated communities in Texas to wastewater-derived contaminants

Food–Energy–Water Analysis at Spatial Scales for Districts in the Yangtze River Basin (China)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About