Source apportionment of phenolic compounds based on a simultaneous monitoring of surface water and emission sources: A case study in a typical region adjacent to Taihu Lake watershed

Jiaqi Wang; Qian Sui; Shuguang Lyu; Yunzhu Huang; Shaoxin Huang; Bin Wang; Dongjiong Xu; Wentao Zhao; Ming Kong; Yimin Zhang; Shuang Hou; Gang Yu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137946

Source apportionment of phenolic compounds based on a simultaneous monitoring of surface water and emission sources: A case study in a typical region adjacent to Taihu Lake watershed

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jun 20:722:137946. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137946. Epub 2020 Mar 14.

Authors

Jiaqi Wang¹, Qian Sui², Shuguang Lyu³, Yunzhu Huang¹, Shaoxin Huang¹, Bin Wang⁴, Dongjiong Xu⁵, Wentao Zhao⁶, Ming Kong⁷, Yimin Zhang⁷, Shuang Hou¹, Gang Yu⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 200237 Shanghai, China.
² State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 200237 Shanghai, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, 200092 Shanghai, China. Electronic address: suiqian@ecust.edu.cn.
³ State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 200237 Shanghai, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, 200092 Shanghai, China.
⁴ Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory for Aquatic Biomonitoring Jiangsu Environmental Protection, Changzhou Environmental Monitoring Center of Jiangsu Province, 213001, Jiangsu, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, 200092 Shanghai, China.
⁷ Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, 210042 Nanjing, China.

PMID: 32208277
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137946

Abstract

A comprehensive characterisation of four phenolic compounds in surface water and various emission sources was conducted simultaneously in a typical industrial city upstream of the Taihu Lake watershed. The overall concentrations of the target compounds ranged from 0.15 to 2.75 μg/L in the surface water and from 0.43 to 377 μg/L in the emission sources. Relatively high concentration levels were observed in August, during which the rainy season typically occurred in the study area, indicating seasonal emission sources. The spatial distribution revealed severe phenolic-compound contamination in the northeast part of the study area. According to the relationships between the surface water and emission sources, combined-sewer overflow and surface runoff from agricultural activities were identified as seasonal emission sources that were responsible for the increased concentration levels in wet seasons. Indirect discharge of industrial wastewater was proposed as a persistent emission source responsible for the severe contamination level in the northeast region over the entire sampling period, accounting for 16.5% of the phenolic-compound load in a demonstration river section. The findings of this study are useful for identifying the sources of phenolic compounds and controlling the contamination from the main sources in a typical industrial city.

Keywords: Emission sources; Overflow; Phenolic compounds; Surface water.