title: Site-specific water quality criteria for aquatic ecosystems: A case study of pentachlorophenol for Tai Lake, China.
abstract: Given the widely varying types of aquatic ecosystems and bioavailability of chemicals, it is important to develop site-specific water quality criteria (WQC) to ensure criteria are neither over- nor under-protective. In the study, using pentachlorophenol (PCP) as an example, several approaches to derive site-specific WQC were investigated, including the conventional species sensitivity distribution (SSD), weighted SSD based on the proportion of each trophic level, and water effect ratio (WER) method. When corrected to a pH of 7.8, the conventional SSD approach resulted in criteria maximum concentration (CMC) and criteria continuous concentration (CCC) of 18.11 and 1.74 μg/L, respectively. If SSD was weighted according to the current species composition in Tai Lake, the CMC and CCC were 32.81 and 4.48 μg/L, respectively. However, available data suggest that many sensitive species inhabiting Tai Lake during 1980s were disappeared. Considering the species composition of the healthier ecosystem in 1980s, the CMC and CCC were 10.99 and 0.38 μg/L, respectively, which provide more protective water quality standards. Water effect ratio (WER) was further used to correct for co-occurrence of other toxicants and factors affecting bioavailability of PCP. A final WER of 4.72 was applied to adjust the criteria derived by using the weighted SSD for the 1980s aquatic community, and the final CMC and CCC obtained were 51.87 and 1.79 μg/L, respectively, at a pH of 7.8. Water quality criteria derived using the 1980s species composition and adjusted with WER were deemed the most appropriate WQC for water management and aquatic life protection. Merits of the various approaches for developing WQC for protection of aquatic species were discussed.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China; Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Environmental Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210036, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, SC 29808, USA.
authors.forename: Shuangying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B3, Canada.
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China.
authors.forename: Yabing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China. Electronic address: hlliu@nju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hongling
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China.
authors.forename: Guanyong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Environmental Sciences, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210036, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China.
authors.forename: Hongxia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China; Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B3, Canada; Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B3, Canada; School of Biological Sciences, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Giesy
mesh_terms: D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D002681:China; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D060106:Lakes / Q000737:chemistry*; 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: Criteria continuous concentration (CCC); Criteria maximum concentration (CMC); Historic species composition; Site-specific criteria; Water-effect ratio