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Spatial distributions and risk assessments of nutrients and heavy metalsin sediments from an impounded lake of China’s South-to-NorthWater Diversion Project

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Abstract

The high-density distribution patterns of the nutrients (C, N, P) and heavy metals (Fe, Mg, Zn, Cr, Pb, Ni, Cu, Cd) in sediments from Lake Luoma, as well as their pollution status and ecological risks, were characterized, to comprehensively understand potential environmental impacts of inter-basin water transfers. TN, TP, and OM were measured from 162.50 to 4360.00 mg kg-1, 165.00 to 1302.50 mg kg-1, and 1% to 13%, which were primarily accumulated in the eastern, northwest, and western regions, respectively. A total of 8 heavy metals except for Fe generally exhibited a similar distribution pattern, reflected by a gradually decreasing trend from northwest to southeast region. The averaged concentrations of heavy metals decreased as follows: Fe > Mg > Zn > Cr > Pb > Ni > Cu > Cd. Comprehensive pollution risk assessments indicated that the sediments of Lake Luoma were heavily polluted by TN, OM, and Cd. Multivariate statistical analyses demonstrated that the main pollution sources of Zn and Ni were fertilizers and pesticides, Cd and Pb are mainly derived from industrial wastewater, and TN and OM may come from natural and agricultural factors. This research can provide data support for water pollution control and drinking water diversion management in the Lake Luoma basin.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the National Science Foundation of China and Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation for providing financial assistance. The authors also acknowledge the State Key Laboratory of Lake Sciences and Environment for the instrumentation facility and Geological Survey of Jiangsu Province for providing the required support and facilities.

Availability of data and materials

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41773087, 4190071874, and 4207072177), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu (Nos. BK20171075 & BK20180109) and The Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS(ZDBS-LY-DQC018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Lake Sciences and Environment Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Baoying Wang, Jianyu Lin, Xiaogang Wu, Yinian Xue, Chao Han & Qiushi Shen

  2. School of Civil & Architecture Engineering, Xi’ an Technological University, Xi’an, 710021, China

    Baoying Wang, Yinian Xue & Zhihong Zhang

  3. Geological Survey of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing, 210018, China

    Xiaogang Wu & Jinghua Ren

  4. Department of Lake Research, UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, 39114, Magdeburg, Germany

    Qiushi Shen

  5. Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Qiushi Shen

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  1. Baoying Wang
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Contributions

The article was written through the contributions of all authors.

Baoying Wang: conceptualization, methodology, software, data curation, and writing.

Chao Han and Jinghua Ren: supervision, reviewing, and editing.

Jianyu Lin, Xiaogang Wu, Yinian Xue, Zhihong Zhang, Qiushi Shen: Visualization and investigation.

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Correspondence to Chao Han or Jinghua Ren.

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Wang, B., Lin, J., Wu, X. et al. Spatial distributions and risk assessments of nutrients and heavy metalsin sediments from an impounded lake of China’s South-to-NorthWater Diversion Project. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 63305–63318 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14949-5

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