Hardness-dependent water quality criteria for cadmium and an ecological risk assessment of the Shaying River Basin, China

Tingting Ding; Shilin Du; Yahui Zhang; Hongliang Wang; Yu Zhang; Ying Cao; Jin Zhang; Liansheng He

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110666

Hardness-dependent water quality criteria for cadmium and an ecological risk assessment of the Shaying River Basin, China

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2020 Jul 15:198:110666. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110666. Epub 2020 Apr 29.

Authors

Tingting Ding¹, Shilin Du², Yahui Zhang³, Hongliang Wang⁴, Yu Zhang⁴, Ying Cao⁴, Jin Zhang⁵, Liansheng He⁴

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Analysis and Testing Laboratory, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China; Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Waste Water Resource of Anhui Province, College of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, China.
² Environmental Analysis and Testing Laboratory, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China.
³ Environmental Analysis and Testing Laboratory, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China. Electronic address: zhangyahui@craes.org.cn.
⁴ Environmental Analysis and Testing Laboratory, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Waste Water Resource of Anhui Province, College of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, China.

PMID: 32361493
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110666

Abstract

Hardness is one important water quality parameter that influences the toxicity of cadmium. Several studies have derived water quality criteria (WQC) for cadmium, but most of these studies did not consider environmental factors. Moreover, few studies considered environmental factors when carrying out ecological risk assessments (ERA) based on environmental factors. In this research, six native aquatic organisms in the Shaying River were adopted to conduct toxicity tests for cadmium. By combining published toxicity data for cadmium with hardness values and toxicity data from this study, hardness-dependent WQC were established. When normalized to a hardness of 100 mg/L CaCO₃, the criterion maximum concentration (CMC) of 6.46 μg/L and criterion continuous concentration (CCC) of 1.49 μg/L in the Shaying River Basin were derived according to the USEPA guidelines. The acute predicted no effect concentrations (PNECs) derived by species sensitivity distribution (SSD) methods based on log-logistic, log-normal and Burr Type III models were 1.03, 2.41 and 1.66 μg/L, respectively. Recommended WQC values finally expressed as a function of hardness: (1) CMC=(1.136672-0.041838 × lnH) × e^{0.9969×lnH-2.6676}; and (2) CCC=(1.101672-0.041838 × lnH) × e^{1.0083×lnH-6.1156}. In addition, three tiers of ERA of cadmium in surface waters were conducted based on hardness obtained during different seasons in the Shaying River using the hazard quotient (HQ), the margin of safety (MOS₁₀), and the joint probability (JPC) methods. In tiered 1, 2, and 3 ERA, cadmium exposure concentrations were standardized to a hardness of 100 mg/L. The three levels of the ERA method in the tiered framework gave consistent results: the ecological risks of cadmium in the Shaying River Basin were at acceptable levels. The present study provides a reference for the derivation of WQC and risk assessment of pollution affected by differences in aquatic species and water quality factors such as hardness.

Keywords: Cadmium; Environmental risk assessment; Hardness-dependent; Shaying river basin; Water quality criteria.

MeSH terms

Aquatic Organisms
Cadmium / analysis*
China
Environmental Monitoring / methods*
Hardness
Risk Assessment / methods
Rivers
Seasons
Toxicity Tests
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*
Water Quality / standards

Substances

Water Pollutants, Chemical
Cadmium