This study was designed to determine the occurrence, potential sources, human and ecological risks of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in soil from Wuhan, central China. The soil samples were collected from twenty-six sites at soil depth of 1-20 cm from three land-use types and analyzed for the presence of eight OCPs. The instrumental analysis was carried out using Gas Chromatography-Electron Capture Detector (GC-ECD). The obtained result ranged from 0.193 to 135.277 ng g-1 with the mean value of 17.337 ng g-1 for ΣHCHs and 2.479 to 987.248 ng g-1 with the mean value of 80.056 ng g-1 for ΣDDTs. The total sum (ΣOCPs) ranged from 5.44 to 994.44 ng g-1 with the mean value of 97.39 ng g-1. p, p'- DDE was the highest OCP (976 ng g-1) detected in the soil followed by p, p'-DDD (287.454 ng g-1). Pearson correlation analysis indicated that there was a significant correlation between individual OCPs, while a weak and negative correlation between OCPs and selected soil properties. Isomeric ratio results indicated that DDTs in the soil came from historical (early use of DDTs) and HCHs originated from the use of lindane. Incremental lifetime cancer risks (ILCR) indicated that HCHs can cause very low risk for adults while, low risks for children and DDTs can cause low risk on adults and high risks on children.
Keywords: Agricultural soil; Organochlorine pesticides; Risk assessment; Solid-phase extraction.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.