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Ecological risks of heavy metals/metalloid discharged from two sewage treatment works to Mai Po Ramsar site, South China

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Abstract

The concentrations of six heavy metal/metalloids (HMs) cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), and arsenic (As) were determined in the influent, effluent, and dewatered sludge of two sewage treatment works (Yuen Long Sewage Treatment Work (YLSTW) and Shek Wu Hui Sewage Treatment Work (SWHSTW)) and river waters and sediment (Shan Pui River and Ng Tung River) within the Mai Po Ramsar site in Hong Kong SAR, China. In both STWs, Pb had the highest removal efficiencies (YLSTW 86.5 ± 19.0% to 97.3 ± 3.04%; SWHSTW 87.4 ± 12.8% to 100 ± 0.0800%). In the whole effluent toxicity test, both STWs were effective in lowering the toxicity of the effluent to zebrafish and cherry shrimp. The environmental risk assessments of these HMs on three local aquatic organisms, three species of fish, two species of crustaceans, and three species of algae, were calculated based on measured HMs concentrations in river water and sewage samples, and the predicted no-effect concentrations. Results showed that Zn concentrations in all collected samples posed potential risks to all studied aquatic organisms (average risk quotient = 445). The concentrations of Cu in the rivers posed potential risks (average risk quotient = 5.42) to all fish species. It was concluded that Zn and Hg derived from the STWs might pose potential risks to the living organisms inhabiting the Ramsar site, and Cu, Cd, Pb, and As in the rivers were originated from the two rivers and possibly other tributaries.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the technical support from the staff of DSD, and staff and students of both The Education University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Baptist University.

Funding

Financial support from the Drainage Service Department, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR (DEMP 14/03) and the Environment and Conservation Fund, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR (ECF Project 30/2016) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Author notes

  1. Yu Bon Man and Kim Man Lei are co-first authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consortium on Health, Environment, Education and Research (CHEER), and Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Yu Bon Man, Kim Man Lei & Ming Hung Wong

  2. Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Ka Lai Chow

  3. Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences, and Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Anna Oi Wah Leung

  4. Department of Science, School of Science and Technology, The Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China

    Wing Yin Mo

  5. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, and State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Integrated Water-Groundwater Pollution Control, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Ming Hung Wong

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Man, Y.B., Lei, K.M., Chow, K.L. et al. Ecological risks of heavy metals/metalloid discharged from two sewage treatment works to Mai Po Ramsar site, South China. Environ Monit Assess 192, 466 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08397-w

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