Distribution, Sources, and Water Quality Assessment of Dissolved Heavy Metals in the Jiulongjiang River Water, Southeast China

Bin Liang, Guilin Han, Man Liu, Kunhua Yang, Xiaoqiang Li and Jinke Liu
Additional contact information
Bin Liang: School of Scientific Research, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Guilin Han: School of Scientific Research, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Man Liu: School of Scientific Research, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Kunhua Yang: School of Scientific Research, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Xiaoqiang Li: School of Scientific Research, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Jinke Liu: School of Scientific Research, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-14

Abstract: In this study, the concentration of eight dissolved heavy metals (Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Mo, Sb, and Ba) in 42 water samples from the Jiulongjiang River, southeast China, were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Multivariate statistical methods, including correlation analysis (CA) and factor and principal component analysis (FA/PCA), were analyzed to identify the sources of the elements. Water quality index (WQI) and health risk assessment, including hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI), were used to evaluate water quality and the impacts on human health. Our results were compared with the drinking water guidelines reported by China, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), revealing that Ti, Mn, and Sb were not within approved limits at some sites and might be the main pollutants in the drainage basin. Based on the spatial distributions, Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Mo showed good similarity, indicating that they might come from similar sources along the river. The CA results also showed that Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Mo had a high correlation coefficient. The FA/PCA results identified three principal components (PC) that accounted for 79.46% of the total variance. PC 1 suggested that a mixed lithogenic and urban land source contributed to Ti, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Mo; PC 2 showed that Cr, Ni, and Mo were influenced by the discharge of industrial effluents; Sb had a strong loading on PC 3, which was controlled by mining activities. The results of the WQI indicated that the water in the Jiulongjiang River was basically categorized as excellent water, but the water quality levels in site W5 and N4 were poorer due to urban land use. Hazard quotient and HI values showed that Sb was a potential threat to human health, indicating that preventive actions should be considered in regard to mining activities in the upper reaches of Beixi stream.

Keywords: dissolved heavy metals; the Jiulongjiang River; correlation analysis; factor and principal component analysis; water quality index; health risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2752/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/12/2752/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:12:p:2752-:d:188191

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().