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Composition, Distribution, and Risk Assessment of Organochlorine Pesticides in Drinking Water Sources in South China

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Abstract

Samples were collected from nine drinking water sources in south China and were analyzed for concentrations of 15 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs). The average concentrations of total OCPs were in the range of 12.9–43.0 ng L\(^{-1}\) with an overall average of 25.7 ng L\(^{-1}\). The concentrations of HCHs (\(\upalpha \)-HCH, \(\upbeta \)-HCH, \(\upgamma \)-HCH, \(\updelta \)-HCH) and DDTs (p,\(p^\prime \)-DDD, p,\(p^\prime \)-DDT, p,\(p^\prime \)-DDE) were in the range of 5.54–13.08 and 0.17–4.47 ng L\(^{-1}\), respectively. HCHs, endrin-aldehyde, methoxychlor and endrin were the most dominant in all samples. The input of HCHs was a mixture of technical HCH and lindane, while the DDT may be mainly derived from DDT-treated aged and weathered agricultural soils. Health risk assessment of DDTs and HCHs suggested that water quality from nine drinking water sources in south China was safe for human drinking.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported in part by Open Funding Project of the Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Open Funding Project of The State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science (2013B115), Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province of China (No. 2012FFB07301), and the Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y329671K01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 430074, Wuhan, China

    Liangfu Wei, Yuyi Yang & Jun Wang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China

    Liangfu Wei

  3. Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Qing X. Li

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  1. Liangfu Wei
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  2. Yuyi Yang
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  4. Jun Wang
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Correspondence to Jun Wang.

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Wei, L., Yang, Y., Li, Q.X. et al. Composition, Distribution, and Risk Assessment of Organochlorine Pesticides in Drinking Water Sources in South China. Water Qual Expo Health 7, 89–97 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-014-0147-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12403-014-0147-1

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