To investigate the occurrence, distribution, and potential risks of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the South costal area of China, a total of 20 PPCPs in water and aquatic organisms (fish, crab, and shellfish), obtained from 7 coastal rivers of the Chaoshan area, were determined using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The results showed that up to 16 to 18 kinds of PPCPs could be detected in the rivers and aquatic organisms of the Chaoshan area, and the concentrations of PPCPs in the rivers and organisms ranged from 0.30-2223 ng ·L-1 to 0.143-80.3 ng ·g-1, respectively, with a high detection rate for many pollutants. Significant differences were observed in the samples of water and organisms. The total concentration of PPCPs in the rivers of the Chaoshan area was in the order of Huanggang River > Lianjiang River > Huangjiang River > Longjiang River > Luohe River > Rongjiang River > Hanjiang River, with the dominance of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and caffeine (CAF). The total concentrations of PPCPs in the aquatic organisms from the Huanggang River, Hanjiang River, Lianjiang River, and Luohe River were higher than the concentrations of PPCPs in the aquatic organisms from the Longjiang River and Rongjiang River, with a dominance of trimethoprim (TMP), SMX, and CAF. The total concentration of PPCPs in fish was significantly higher than that in crab and shellfish. The results of bioconcentration factor (BCF) showed that a variety of PPCPs were accumulated in the organisms from the Chaoshan rivers; among them, the BCF value in fish was higher, which was more likely to bioaccumulate than crabs and shellfish. The ecological risks in terms of risk quotient (RQ) for 12 typical PPCPs were assessed in the Chaoshan area. It was discovered that the risk for fleas and algae was significantly higher than that for fish. The RQ values of SMX, erythromycin (ERY), and sulfadiazine (SDZ) were all greater than 1, which posed potential ecological risks for algae in the Huanggang River and Lianjiang Rivers and for fleas in the Huangjiang River.
Keywords: Chaoshan rivers; aquatic organisms; bioconcentration factor; ecological risk; pharmaceuticals and personal care products(PPCPs).