Organochlorine pesticides in soil, air, and vegetation at and around a contaminated site in southwestern China: Concentration, transmission, and risk evaluation.
Remediation and management of contaminated sites have become a prevalent problem under the current situation in China. The present study was conducted to investigate the concentration, transmission, and health risk of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in soil, air, and vegetation at and around a typical pesticide-contaminated site located in southwestern China. Exchange flux between soil and air was calculated to investigate the transmission of OCPs. Hexachlorocyclohexane (ΣHCHs, top soil: 19.1 mg/kg d.w., air: 52.3 ng/m3, vegetation: 0.17 mg/kg d.w.) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (ΣDDTs, top soil: 200 mg/kg d.w., air: 130 ng/m3, vegetation: 0.78 mg/kg d.w.) were the dominant pollutants at the contaminated site. Around the site, the soil, air, and vegetation samples had higher OCP concentrations than those in the normal areas, which were found to be dominated by ΣHCHs (top soil: 129 ng/g d.w., air: 5.09 ng/m3, vegetation: 81.8 ng/g d.w.) and ΣDDTs (top soil: 360 ng/g, air: 7.47 ng/m3, vegetation: 189 ng/g d.w.). The fugacity fractions of OCPs (>0.7) showed a net volatilization from soil into air, indicating that soil is an obvious pollution source for the atmosphere, especially at the site. Through human health risk evaluation, serious carcinogenic risk (CRn) and hazardous index (HIn) were found at the site (CRn: 7.4 × 10-6-1.04 × 10-4, HIn: 0.02 to 8.97) and the nearby areas (CRn: 3.37 × 10-6for adults and 1.68 × 10-6for children on average).
College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
Yanyan
Y
Fang
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China. Electronic address: niezq@craes.org.cn.
Zhiqiang
Z
Nie
College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
Qingqi
Q
Die
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
Yajun
Y
Tian
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
Feng
F
Liu
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.
Jie
J
He
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China. Electronic address: huangqf@vip.sina.com.
Qifei
Q
Huang
D000328:Adult; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000032:analysis; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D003634:DDT / Q000032:analysis; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D001556:Hexachlorocyclohexane / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis*; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014835:Volatilization
D000393:Air Pollutants; D002273:Carcinogens; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D010575:Pesticides; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D001556:Hexachlorocyclohexane; D003634:DDT
Air; Contaminated site; Fugacity; OCPs; Soil; Vegetation