title: Water quality benchmarking (WQB) and priority control screening (PCS) of persistent toxic substances (PTSs) in China: necessity, method and a case study.
abstract: The priority control screening (PCS) and water quality benchmarking (WQB) of toxic chemicals in water are key steps to ensure the safety of drinking water and aquatic ecosystem that is the crucial goal of water environment management. Owing to the different levels of social-economic development in different countries and regions, the PCS and WQB of toxic chemicals must be determined in accordance with their specific water environment situations. However, in China, the PCS and WQB of toxic chemicals in water were mainly introduced from the other countries. A method for the PCS and WQB of toxic chemicals in water based on the ecological risks was proposed, and a platform named Bayesian Matbugs Calculator (BMC) was developed. As a case study, the WQB and PCS of sixty-nine PTSs based their ecological risks were performed on the basis of one-year monthly monitoring in Lake Chaohu. The results showed that the current national water quality criteria (WQC) would underestimate the toxicological risk to organisms in this aquatic ecosystem. It appears necessary to develop new WQC for the protection of aquatic organisms in Lake Chaohu. Four grades of priority control chemicals (PCCs) in Lake Chaohu were proposed. The highest priority was assigned to organonitrogen-phosphorus pesticides, including parathion, dichlorvos, malathion, omethoate, and di-n-butyl phthalate. However, the national "blacklist" of toxic compounds only covered 7 of 20 PCCs, indicating that the other 13 PCCs would not be controlled efficiently. Because the pollution pattern of PTSs in various water bodies might be quite different, we appealed to the governments to screen the regional PPC lists or develop a more comprehensive national list for aquatic ecosystem protection in China.
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiang-Zhen
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Wen-Xiu
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Qi-Shuang
authors.initials: QS
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Qing-Mei
authors.initials: QM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Yu-Jiao
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Wen-Jing
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Ministry of Education Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban & Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China. Electronic address: xufl@urban.pku.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Fu-Liu
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D060753:Water Quality / Q000592:standards*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Lake Chaohu; Persistent toxic substances; Predicted no-effect concentration; Priority control screening; Species sensitivity distribution; Water quality