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Occurrence and risk assessment of microcystin and its relationship with environmental factors in lakes of the eastern plain ecoregion, China

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 27, pages 45095–45107 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

The frequent occurrence of microcystins (MCs) in freshwater poses serious threats to the drinking water safety and health of human beings. Although MCs have been detected in individual fresh waters in China, little is known about their occurrence over a large geographic scale. An investigation of 30 subtropical lakes in eastern China was performed during summer 2018 to determine the MCs concentrations in water and their possible risk via direct water consumption to humans, and to assess the associated environmental factors. MCs were detected in 28 of 30 lakes, and the highest mean MCs concentrations occurred in Lake Chaohu (26.7 μg/L), followed by Lake Taihu (3.11 μg/L). MC-LR was the primary variant observed in our study, and MCs were mainly produced by Microcystis, Anabaena (Dolicospermum), and Oscillatoria in these lakes. Replete nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, irradiance, and stable water column conditions were critical for dominance of MC-producing cyanobacteria and high MCs production in our study. Hazard quotients indicated that human health risk of MCs in most lakes was at moderate or low levels except Lakes Chaohu and Taihu. Nutrient control management is recommended to decrease the likelihood of high MCs production. Finally, we recommend the regional scale thresholds of total nitrogen and total phosphorus concentrations of 1.19 mg/L and 7.14 × 10−2 mg/L, respectively, based on the drinking water guideline of MC-LR (1 μg/L) recommended by World Health Organization. These targets for nutrient control will aid water quality managers to reduce human health risks created by exposure to MCs.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Xiubo Shu, Qingju Xue, Wei Zou, Yurong Gu, and Yanhua Zhao for their helps in sample collection and MCs analysis. Xiang Wan wrote the main manuscript text; Professor Alan Steinman and Liqiang Xie modified the paper, checked English grammar, and improved English writing.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41877486), National Water Pollution Control and Management Technology Major Projects (grant no. 2018ZX07208008), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDA23040201).

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Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 73 East Beijing Road, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Xiang Wan, Yurong Gu, Guangwei Zhu, Xiubo Shu, Qingju Xue, Wei Zou & Liqiang Xie

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

    Xiang Wan, Yurong Gu & Wei Zou

  3. Annis Water Resources Institute, Grand Valley State University, 740 West Shoreline Drive, Muskegon, MI, 49441, USA

    Alan D. Steinman

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  1. Xiang Wan
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  2. Alan D. Steinman
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  3. Yurong Gu
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Correspondence to Liqiang Xie.

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Wan, X., Steinman, A.D., Gu, Y. et al. Occurrence and risk assessment of microcystin and its relationship with environmental factors in lakes of the eastern plain ecoregion, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 45095–45107 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10384-0

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Keywords

  • Cyanotoxin
  • MC-LR
  • Quantile regression
  • Health risks
  • Total nitrogen and phosphorus