Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products across Different Water Bodies in Taihu Lake Basin, China: Occurrence, Source, and Flux

Jichao Huang, Jiannan Ding (), Hang Jiang, Zhenguo Wang, Lixing Zheng, Xiaojun Song and Hua Zou
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Jichao Huang: School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Jiannan Ding: School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Hang Jiang: School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Zhenguo Wang: School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Lixing Zheng: School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Xiaojun Song: School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
Hua Zou: School of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 17, 1-17

Abstract: Although pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have attracted great attentions, their occurrence characteristics across different water bodies at a basin scale remain poorly understood. To grasp a more comprehensive understanding of PPCP pollution from the perspective of the whole basin, the occurrence, spatial and seasonal variation, source, and flux of thirteen PPCPs across the different environmental compartments of the northern Taihu Lake Basin (TLB) were studied. The results showed that the non-therapeutic pharmaceuticals caffeine (CFI) and n, n-diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET) were the main components across the different environmental compartments. The total concentrations of detected PPCPs ranged from 0.2 to 2437.9 ng/L. Higher concentrations of PPCPs were observed in spring and autumn, which were mainly attributed to seasonal differences in PPCP consumption. Generally, pollution level was higher in industry and agriculture area and in the inner bay and southwest of Taihu Lake. Source apportionment indicated that untreated water was the main source of PPCPs in river waters of the northern TLB. Flux estimation showed that the mean annual flux of PPCPs from northern TLB to Taihu Lake in 2021 was 1.6 t/a, which was higher in comparison with other areas. Overall, the resulting data will be useful to enrich the research of PPCPs in freshwater for environmental investigations.

Keywords: PPCPs; TLB; occurrence; source apportionment; flux (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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