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Occurrence of 1153 organic micropollutants in the aquatic environment of Vietnam

  • Advances in environmental chemistry of pollutants
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Abstract

The rapid increase in the number and volume of chemical substances being used in modern society has been accompanied by a large number of potentially hazardous chemicals being found in environmental samples. In Vietnam, the monitoring of chemical substances is mainly limited to a small number of known pollutants in spite of rapid economic growth and urbanization, and there is an urgent need to examine a large number of chemicals to prevent impacts from expanding environmental pollution. However, it is difficult to analyze a large number of chemicals using existing methods, because they are time consuming and expensive. In the present study, we determined 1153 substances to grasp a pollution picture of microcontaminants in the aquatic environment. To achieve this objective, we have used two comprehensive analytical methods: (1) solid-phase extraction (SPE) and LC-TOF-MS analysis, and (2) SPE and GC-MS analysis. We collected 42 samples from northern (the Red River and Hanoi), central (Hue and Danang), and southern (Ho Chi Minh City and Saigon-Dongnai River) Vietnam. One hundred and sixty-five compounds were detected at least once. The compounds detected most frequently (>40 % samples) at μg/L concentrations were sterols (cholesterol, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol, coprostanol), phthalates (bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and di-n-butyl phthalate), and pharmaceutical and personal care products (caffeine, metformin). These contaminants were detected at almost the same detection frequency as in developed countries. The results reveal that surface waters in Vietnam, particularly in the center of large cities, are polluted by a large number of organic micropollutants, with households and business activities as the major sources. In addition, risk quotients (MEC/PNEC values) for nonylphenol, sulfamethoxazole, ampicillin, acetaminophen, erythromycin and clarithromycin were higher than 1, which indicates a possibility of adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a bilateral joint research project (Project No. 12308030) between the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, and a research grant from Kitakyushu City. We are grateful to Associate Professor Graeme Allinson (RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia) and Dr. Mayumi Allinson (University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia) for their kind proofreading, useful comments, and constructive suggestions on this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu, Japan

    H. T. C. Chau, K. Kadokami, H. T. Duong, L. Kong & Y. Ito

  2. Institute of Environmental Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science, Hanoi, Vietnam

    H. T. Duong, T. T. Nguyen & T. Q. Nguyen

Authors
  1. H. T. C. Chau
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  2. K. Kadokami
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  3. H. T. Duong
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  4. L. Kong
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  5. T. T. Nguyen
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  6. T. Q. Nguyen
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  7. Y. Ito
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Correspondence to K. Kadokami.

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Chau, H.T.C., Kadokami, K., Duong, H.T. et al. Occurrence of 1153 organic micropollutants in the aquatic environment of Vietnam. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 7147–7156 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5060-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5060-z

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