In the present study, 60 emerging contaminants (ECs) were detected from 88 target compounds in the district of Wujin, which is the northwest area of Tai Lake Basin, China. Among them, CF (caffeine), a type of PhAC (pharmaceutically active compound), was detected as the pollutant with the highest concentration. It was observed that the removal efficiencies of PFASs (per-/polyfluoroalkyl substances) in wastewater treatment plants were lower than those of pesticides; further, those of pesticides were lower than those of PhACs. Based on the spatial agglomeration estimated by the spatial autocorrelation model, the probable sources of 28 contaminants were identified. This model provided a new perspective that would help to clarify the location of sources with high accuracy. The point sources of 6 PFASs and 14 PhACs were successfully found; in contrast, the main source of pesticides was identified as an agricultural nonpoint source. Finally, the potential risks of the ECs were also assessed in this study, including their aquatic ecological risks and human exposure risks. It was concluded that pesticides generally had the highest ecological risk, followed by PFASs and PhACs. To evaluate the population risk of pesticides, the wastewater-based epidemiological model was extended to back-calculate the per capita pesticide consumption, which was 0.22 g d-1 (103capita)-1.
Keywords: Per-/polyfluoroalkyl substances; Pesticides; Pharmaceutically active compounds; Risk assessment; Spatial statistics model.
Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.