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Temporal variation and spatial distribution of PAH in water of Three Gorges Reservoir during the complete impoundment period

  • Processes and Environmental Quality in the Yangtze River System
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Abstract

Bioavailable concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in water of Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) using semipermeable membrane devices during the period of completely impounding water. ∑PAH concentrations in water of TGR in the period of completely impounding water were 15–381 ng L−1. ∑PAH concentrations increased from town or counties to big industrialized cities in TGR, indicating urbanization effects on PAH pollution in the water. Tributaries in TGR have a certain contribution of PAH pollution to the mainstream of Yangtze River and their pollution could not be neglected. An obvious decrease of PAH concentration was observed after 175-m water impounding in 2011 in TGR. Several factors may account for this decrease, including execution of comprehensive treatment and management measures in TGR, less rainfall in 2011, and sedimentation effect caused by the dam. Passive sampling method has been successfully applied in the investigation of trace PAH in water of TGR and proved to be a useful and efficient tool for the management and sustainable development of the big reservoir. The results of the study provide valuable information about PAH pollution in the whole reservoir including some tributaries, and the pollution status is dynamically related with human activities. Therefore, PAH could be used as a marker compound or indicator in the network monitoring system to surveil and trace the pollution status in TGR.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF 02WT1132). We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on an earlier draft of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular EXposomics (MEX), Helmholtz Zentrum München–German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstädter Landstr.1, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    Jingxian Wang, Bernhard Henkelmann, Gerd Pfister, Cedrique Temoka & Karl-Werner Schramm

  2. Department für Biowissenschaften, Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan für Ernährung und Landnutzung, TUM, Weihenstephaner Steig 23, 85350, Freising, Germany

    Jingxian Wang, Cedrique Temoka & Karl-Werner Schramm

  3. The State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, People’s Republic of China

    Yonghong Bi & Kongxian Zhu

  4. Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Adenauerring 20b, 76131, Karlsruhe, Germany

    Wei Hu

  5. Institute for Geotechnical Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 35, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    Bernhard Westrich

Authors
  1. Jingxian Wang
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  2. Bernhard Henkelmann
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  3. Yonghong Bi
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  4. Kongxian Zhu
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  5. Gerd Pfister
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  6. Wei Hu
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  7. Cedrique Temoka
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  8. Bernhard Westrich
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  9. Karl-Werner Schramm
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Correspondence to Jingxian Wang or Karl-Werner Schramm.

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Responsible editor: Leif Kronberg

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Wang, J., Henkelmann, B., Bi, Y. et al. Temporal variation and spatial distribution of PAH in water of Three Gorges Reservoir during the complete impoundment period. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 7071–7079 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1427-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1427-6

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