title: Distribution, sources, and potential toxicological significance of PAHs in drinking water sources within the Pearl River Delta.
abstract: The Pearl River Delta (PRD) region is one of the most population-dense areas in China. The safety of its drinking source water is essential to human health. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have attracted attention from the scientific community and the general public due to their toxicity and wide distribution in the global environment. In this work, PAHs pollution levels from the drinking source water in nine main cities within the PRD were investigated. ∑15 PAHs concentrations during the wet season varied from 32.0 to 754.8 ng L(-1) in the dissolved phase, and from 13.4 to 3017.8 ng L(-1) in the particulate phase. During the dry season, dissolved PAHs ranged from 48.1 to 113.6 ng L(-1), and particulate PAHs from 8.6 to 69.6 ng L(-1). Overall, ∑15 PAHs concentrations were extremely high in the XC and ZHQ stations during the wet season in 2008 and 2009. In most sites, PAHs originated from mixed sources. Hazard ratios based on non-cancerous and cancerous risks were extremely higher in XC compared with the others during the wet season, though they were much less than 1. Nevertheless, risks caused by the combined toxicity of ∑15 PAHs and other organics should be seriously considered. PAHs toxic equivalent quantities ranged from 0.508 to 177.077 ng L(-1).
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Resources Utilization and Protection, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China. antc99@gig.ac.cn
authors.forename: Taicheng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.forename: Guiying
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Xiangying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Jiamo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical