[Pollution Level and Risk Assessment of OPEs in Typical River Basins of China].

Organophosphate esters(OPEs), as a substitute for brominated flame retardants, are widely used in production and life, and their environmental pollution and toxic effects have attracted widespread attention. In this study, the concentrations and distribution characteristics of OPEs in seven major drainage basins of China were sorted out. The average daily dose of OPEs in Chinese adults, adolescents, and children was calculated to assess the health risks, and the reliability of the results was evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation. The toxic effect concentrations of 12 OPEs on aquatic organisms were investigated, and the species sensitivity distribution(SSD) curve was constructed to assess the ecological risk. The results showed that the 5th percentile concentration of ΣOPEs in the seven drainage basins was 52.61 ng·L-1 under the low exposure scenario. The median concentration of ΣOPEs in the seven basins was 499.74 ng·L-1, with trichloroethyl phosphate(TCEP), triethyl phosphate(TEP), and triethyl phosphate(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) esters(TDCP) as the main contaminants. Under the high exposure scenario, the 95th percentile concentration of ΣOPEs in the seven basins was 1904.4 ng·L-1, 3.8 times that of the intermediate exposure scenario, and the Yangtze River Basin had the highest ΣOPEs concentration under the high exposure scenario. The health risk assessment showed that the non-carcinogenic risk of OPEs exposure through drinking water was within acceptable limits for different populations. Trimethyl phosphate(TMP), triisobutyl phosphate(TiBP), and TCEP were the main contributors to cancer risk. The results of ecological risk assessment showed that TCEP had medium ecological risk at the high exposure level, tributyl phosphate(TnBP) had medium ecological risk under the intermediate exposure scenario, and there was higher ecological risk under the high exposure scenario. Triphenyl phosphate(TPhP) had a risk quotient greater than 1 under the low, intermediate, and high exposure scenarios, and there was a high ecological risk, which requires special attention.

[Pollution Characteristics and Migration of BTEX at a Chemical Contaminated Site in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area].

In this study, we analyzed 247 soil and 20 groundwater samples from a typical chemical site in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and simulated the solute transport of pollutant benzene with the GMS software, in order to reconstruct the distribution and migration mechanism of benzene series (BTX) pollutants. The detected concentrations of benzene, ethylbenzene, m,p-xylene, and o-xylene exceeded the screening values in some soil and groundwater samples, indicating that the pollution of BTX in shallow groundwater was serious. Our simulation indicated an elliptical flow of benzene in groundwater (from northwest to southeast), mainly through convection, dispersion, and molecular diffusion. Along the vertical direction, the BTX was mainly distributed in the form of floating benzene, and some of the constituents were dissolved in the groundwater. Due to hydrodynamic mechanisms, the dissolved benzene tended to migrate faster and had hence a greater impact on the downstream groundwater. Through the model validation and analysis, we obtained a linear fitting correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.995 between the simulated and actual monitoring values, which indicates a good agreement between these two sets of data. The model had a high prediction accuracy, and could hence accurately determine the migration and distribution characteristics of benzene. Therefore, it provides a scientific basis for the accurate control and remediation of chemical contaminated sites in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.