Spatial variability, source identification and risks assessment of antibiotics in multimedia of North China's largest freshwater lake using positive matrix factorization and Monte Carlo simulation.

Antibiotics are widely found in aquatic ecosystems and pose a serious threat to human and the ecological system. Samples of surface water (SW), overlying water (OW), pore water (PW) and sediments (Sedi) were collected to investigate the spatial variability, potential sources, ecological risk (RQs) and health risks (HQs) of nine common antibiotics in Baiyangdian Lake using positive matrix factorization (PMF), and Monte Carlo simulation. Significant spatial autocorrelation of most antibiotics were observed in PW and Sedi samples rather than in SW and OW samples, and higher antibiotic levels were found in the northwest of waters and the southwest of sediments. Livestock (26.74-35.57%) and aquaculture (21.62-37.70%) were identified as primary sources of antibiotics in the water and sediments. Norfloxacin and roxithromycin showed high levels of RQ and HQ in more than 50% of samples, respectively. The combined RQ (ΣRQ) in the PW can be used as a sign of across multimedia risk. Notably, appreciable health risks were observed for the combined HQ (ΣHQ) in about 80% of samples, indicating the importance of taking health risk of antibiotics into consideration. The findings of this work provides a reference for antibiotics pollution control and risk management in shallow lake.

Ecological risk assessment of glyphosate and its possible effect on bacterial community in surface sediments of a typical shallow Lake, northern China.

Glyphosate is a widely used herbicide worldwide and its prevalent presence in aquatic ecosystems poses a threat to living organisms. This study evaluated potential ecological risk of glyphosate to sediment-dwelling organisms and assessed the probable effect of glyphosate on structure and predicated function of sediment-attached bacterial communities from a large shallow lake in northern China based on 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. Results suggested that glyphosate showed a medium to high concentration (up to 8.63 mg/kg) and chronic risk to sediment-dwelling organisms (10% samples exhibiting medium to high risk quotient), especially in sites nearby farmland and residential areas in August. Bacterial community identification based on 16S rRNA sequence indicated some species of dominant phylum Proteobacteria and Campilobacterota (e.g., Steroidobacteraceae, Thiobacillus, Gallionellaceae, Sulfurimonadaceae) were stimulated while some species of dominant phylum Actinobacteriota, Acidobacteriota and Firmicutes (e.g., Nocardioidaceae, Microtrichales, Vicinamibacteraceae, Paenisporosarcina) were inhibited by glyphosate accumulation. The stimulating species were related to sulfur-oxidizing, sulfate-, iron-, or nitrate-reducing bacteria; The inhibiting species were related to plant bacterial endophytes, polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) and denitrifers. Correspondingly, promoted bacterial metabolic functions of "sulfite respiration", "nitrogen respiration", "aromatic compound degradation" and "nitrification" but suppressed "cellulolysis", "manganese oxidation", "anoxygenic photoautotrophy S oxidizing" and "nitrate denitrification" were predicated on functional annotation of prokaryotic taxa. Although these results could only partly suggest the impacts of glyphosate on the bacterial communities due to the lack of actual results from control experiments, the identified Steroidobacteraceae could be thought as a bioindicator in the future mechanism study for the ecological effect and bioremediation of glyphosate. This work intends to arise the concern about the depletion of biodiversity and bacterial metabolic functions with contribution of glyphosate in part in eutrophic lakes.

Spatial distribution and mass loading of phthalate esters in wastewater treatment plants in China: An assessment of human exposure.

The occurrence and fate of nine phthalate esters (PAEs), including dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di­n­butyl phthalate (DBP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DIBP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BzBP), di (2­ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), di­n­hexyl phthalate (DNHP), dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP), and di­n­octyl phthalate (DNOP), in sludges collected from 46 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) from 22 Chinese provinces were investigated. The nine PAEs were detected in almost all the sludge samples. DEHP was the most abundant congener in all sludge samples, followed by DBP and DIBP. The DEHP concentrations in sludge were in the range of 0.326-67.8 (mean: 14.7) µg/g dry weight (dw), which were at the lower bound or middle of the concentration range of DEHP in sludge globally (0.0200-3514 µg/g dw). Spatial distribution and mass loading of PAEs in WWTPs were investigated. The concentrations of Σ9PAEs in sludges from different provinces were in the order as follows: Jilin (40.2 µg/g dw) > Liaoning (38.9 µg/g dw) > Beijing (30.7 µg/g dw), while the mass loading of ∑9PAEs in sludges were Guangdong (10.1 tons/yr) > Liaoning (9.97 tons/yr) > Shandong (5.59 tons/yr). Our study showed that the geographical distribution of PAEs in sludges was similar to that in indoor dusts found in earlier study, suggesting the existence of a common source for these chemicals in both matrices. Based on the concentrations measured, human exposure to PAEs through sludge application in soil was evaluated and the exposure dose is minor.