Health Risk Assessment of Organochlorine Pesticides in a Shallow Freshwater Lake, China

Abstract

Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) including Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethanes (DDTs) in surface water of Lake Baiyangdian were determined to assess the potential health risk when using as drinking water for children and adults. The concentration of HCHs and DDTs in surface water were in the range of 2.74-11.50 ng L-1 and 3.48-16.88 ng L-1, respectively. Compared with similar results reported around the world, the level of OCPs in this study was in the mid-range. The analysis of health risk indicated that risks from OCPs in most part of the lake would not be risky to human health according to the acceptable risk level, while carcinogenic effects caused by α-HCH might occur if drinking water from Nanliuzhuang (NLZ) and Laowangdian (SCD). α-HCH and β-HCH were the dominating factors for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks, respectively. Risks of OCPs for children were much higher than those caused by OCPs for adults.

Residues of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in aquatic environment and risk assessment along Shaying River, China

“…As from the literature, ingestion is evaluated as the main intake pathway for OCPs to the human body, the risks related to drinking water produced from surface water and groundwater are much higher than those of dermal contact, which can be seen in Table 5 and is accordance with other studies (Wei et al 2015). The carcinogenic risk value of HCHs in this research was similar with that of edible fish from Wuhan, China (Cui et al 2015), higher than that of drinking water sources from middle China (Guo and Feng 2014), underground river waters in Southeast China (Hu et al 2011) and surface waters in Sichuan Basin China (Liu et al 2015), which was around 10 -7 -10 -9 . In river water of Korea, there is a higher carcinogenic risk of 10 -6 associated with OCPs (Lee et al 2014).…”

“…The concentration of P HCHs ranged from 8.6 to 26.7 ng L -1 in groundwater, and from 2.5 to 23.9 ng L -1 in surface water, with the mean concentration of 18.7 and 14.3 ng L -1 , respectively. Levels of HCHs and DDTs in surface water of upper reach of Huaihe River (Feng et al 2011), Lake Baiyangdian (Guo and Feng 2014) and Yellow River Estuary (Li et al 2015b) were 0.9-62.2 and 1.5-35.5 ng L -1 , respectively, while in River Yamuna, India, the levels were with higher concentration of 12.8-593.5 and 66.2-723.0 ng L -1 (Kaushik et al 2008). Concentration of total OCPs ranges from 1.0 to 46.5 ng L -1 in Yangtze River (Tang et al 2008), Pearl River Delta (Guan et al 2009), Chao River (Yu et al 2014), and 0.8-64.5 ng L -1 in underground river of southwest China (Hu et al 2011).…”

“…With regard to the contributions of the different OCPs to the relative concentrations of the mixture, c-HCH played a dominant role in the comprehensive ecological risk. Guo and Feng (2014) found that a-HCH and b-HCH were the dominant factors for carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks in shallow freshwater lakes in China that are used as drinking water source. This…”