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Occurrence and risk assessment of currently used organophosphate pesticides in overlying water and surface sediments in Guangzhou urban waterways, China

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Abstract

Organophosphate pesticides (OPPs) are one type of the most massively used pesticides and ubiquitously detected in aquatic environments, which may pose potential risks to the aquatic organisms and human health. In the present study, the spatiotemporal distribution and potential risks of OPPs were investigated in overlying water and surficial sediments from urban waterways of Guangzhou. For all studied sites, in general, four target OPPs (i.e., malathion, chlorpyrifos, terbufos, and diazinon) were present in the overlying water, with malathion and chlorpyrifos as major components. Higher concentrations of the four OPPs were found for the water and sediments collected in the dry season compared to the wet season, possibly because of the dilution effect of heavy rains. The results of Pearson’s analyses and principal coordinate analyses (PCoA) suggested similar sources for target OPPs in the water and sediments across the Guangzhou urban waterways. Potential ecological risks of the OPPs to three representative taxons (algae, aquatic invertebrates, and fish) were evaluated via toxic units (TUs) and risk quotients (RQs), while risk assessment on human health was performed using hazard index (HI). Although TU results showed no acute risks to the aquatic organisms in the overlying water and surface sediments, RQ results of the mixture showed high risks to the aquatic invertebrate and fish in all water samples. Individual HI values and cumulative HI values were on the order of 10−6–10−3 for children and adults, suggesting no potential risks to either children or adults through drinking and bathing.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

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Acknowledgements

Sample collection by Peng Liu and Xiao-Ju Lin is greatly acknowledged.

Funding

The design of the study and analysis were financed by the GDAS’ Project of Science and Technology Development (2020GDASYL-20200104018 and 2019GDASYL-0103045). The analysis and interpretation of data were financially supported by the GDAS’ Project of Science and Technology Development (2019GDASYL-0105041 and 2018GDASCX-0106). The writing of the manuscript was financially supported by the GDAS’ Project of Science and Technology Development (2020GDASYL-20200402003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National-Regional Joint Engineering Research Center for Soil Pollution Control and Remediation in South China, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-environmental Pollution Control and Management, Institute of Eco-environmental and Soil Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Gaoling Wei, Wenpeng Niu, Qian Huan, Tingting Tian, Shujun Zou & Deyin Huang

  2. College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Cong Wang

  3. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Conservation, College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Cong Wang

Authors
  1. Gaoling Wei
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  2. Cong Wang
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  3. Wenpeng Niu
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  4. Qian Huan
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  5. Tingting Tian
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  6. Shujun Zou
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  7. Deyin Huang
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Contributions

GW: investigation, data curation, formal analysis, writing—original draft preparation, conceptualization, methodology.

CW: investigation, data curation, formal analysis.

WN: funding acquisition, investigation, formal analysis.

QH: investigation, methodology.

TT: funding acquisition, supervision, conceptualization, writing—reviewing and editing, resources.

SZ: investigation, data curation.

DH: funding acquisition, supervision, project administration, resources, conceptualization, writing—reviewing and editing, validation.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Tingting Tian or Deyin Huang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Ester Heath

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Highlights

•Four target OPPs were ubiquitously detected in water of Guangzhou urban waterways.

•Higher levels of OPPs were found in the water and sediments in the dry season.

•The OPPs in water showed high risks to the aquatic invertebrate and fish.

•The OPPs showed no health risk to children or adults via drinking and bathing.

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Wei, G., Wang, C., Niu, W. et al. Occurrence and risk assessment of currently used organophosphate pesticides in overlying water and surface sediments in Guangzhou urban waterways, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 48194–48206 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13956-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13956-w

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