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Screening and Risk Evaluation of Organic Contaminants in an Urban Wetland Fed with Wastewater Effluents

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Abstract

Wastewater release in an urban wetland in Mexico City entails discharging complex mixtures of hundreds of chemical substances into the aquatic system. Therefore, in order to identify the most important contaminants, a GC–MS screening method coupled with deconvolution software was used. LC50 values from ECOSAR and Toxic Units were obtained to identify the organic pollutants-of-concern and to pinpoint the most ecotoxic sites. The results showed that, even though the area has intensive farming, agrochemicals are not of concern. Industrial and domestic groups make up from about 30%–66% of the pollutants for all sites. Of the 189 identified substances, 17 were detected 44% of the time and the Toxic Unit showed that terbutol, coprostanol, and hexadecane were capable of generating considerable adverse effects on the aquatic ecosystem. Total Toxic Units for each site exhibited a decreasing trend as they distanced from the urban and agricultural area.

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Acknowledgments

This project was co-funded by DGAPA, UNAM through the project PAPIIT IN223618 and Earthwatch Institute within the framework of the EY-Earthwatch Ambassador Program. We thank Antonio Calzada-Villafuerte, M.Sc., for managing the chromatographic database.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Posgrado en Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad de Posgrados, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Jorge Meza-González

  2. Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

    Manuel Hernández-Quiróz, Omar Arellano-Aguilar & Claudia Ponce de León-Hill

  3. Química Analítica, Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

    Francisco Rojo-Callejas

  4. Laboratorio Nacional de Ciencias de la Sostenibilidad (LANCIS), Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico

    Erick Hjort-Colunga & Marisa Mazari-Hiriart

  5. Restauración Ecológica y Desarrollo (REDES A.C.), Mexico City, Mexico

    Elsa Valiente-Riveros

Authors
  1. Jorge Meza-González
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  2. Manuel Hernández-Quiróz
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  3. Francisco Rojo-Callejas
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  4. Erick Hjort-Colunga
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  5. Marisa Mazari-Hiriart
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  6. Elsa Valiente-Riveros
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  7. Omar Arellano-Aguilar
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  8. Claudia Ponce de León-Hill
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Correspondence to Claudia Ponce de León-Hill.

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Meza-González, J., Hernández-Quiróz, M., Rojo-Callejas, F. et al. Screening and Risk Evaluation of Organic Contaminants in an Urban Wetland Fed with Wastewater Effluents. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 108, 114–121 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03243-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-021-03243-2

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