Dissolved microcystins in surface and ground waters in regions with high cancer incidence in the Huai River Basin of China

• Published in: Chemosphere (Oxford) Vol. 91; no. 7; pp. 1064 - 1071
• Main Authors: Tian, Dajun, Zheng, Weiwei, Wei, Xiao, Sun, Xin, Liu, Li, Chen, Xin, Zhang, Hao, Zhou, Yin, Chen, Hanyi, Zhang, Hongmei, Wang, Xia, Zhang, Rongjie, Jiang, Songhui, Zheng, Yuxin, Yang, Gonghuan, Qu, Weidong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-05-2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; at-risk population; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; China; Continental surface waters; Environmental Exposure - statistics & numerical data; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental pollutants toxicology; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Groundwater; Groundwater - chemistry; Groundwater - microbiology; groundwater contamination; Groundwaters; hepatotoxins; high performance liquid chromatography; Huai River; Humans; Incidence; linear models; liver; Medical sciences; Microbiology; Microcystins; Microcystins - analysis; Natural water pollution; Neoplasms - epidemiology; Pathogenicity, virulence, toxins, bacteriocins, pyrogens, host-bacteria relations, miscellaneous strains; Pollution; ponds; Risk Assessment; rivers; Rivers - chemistry; Rivers - microbiology; solid phase extraction; Surface water; towns; Toxicology; Water; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollution, Chemical - statistics & numerical data; Water treatment and pollution; watersheds; wells; China; Asia; MC-LR; std; HPLC-DAD; DO; MC-RR; TSI; MC-YR; MCE; TFA; SD; min; Groundwater; Surface water; COD; US EPA; Chl-a; TN; MCs; TP; SMRs; Microcystins; Huai River; Drinking water; Oligopeptides; Cyclic peptides; Toxicity; Liver; Time variation; Freshwater environment; Tissue; Seasonal variation; Cyanobacteria; Bacteria; Stream; Hepatotoxicity; Ground water; Microcystin; Rivers; Malignant tumor; Toxin; Water quality; Water pollution; Cancer
• ISSN: 0045-6535; 1879-1298
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.01.051

► The first study on microcystins pollution in groundwater in Huai River Basin. ► Quantify linear relation of microcystins between rivers and groundwater. ► Providing the evidence that MCs in groundwater from the river replenishment. ► Microcystin-RR as the most dominant toxin in groundwater.
Microcystins (MCs) are potent hepatotoxins and have also implicated in liver tumor promotion. The present study investigates the temporal and spatial variations of MCs in different water bodies in the Huai River Basin in China. Water samples including rivers, ponds and wells were collected every quarter during December 2008 and December 2009. MCs were determined by high pressure liquid chromatography after solid phase extraction. MCs concentrations in river samples were 0.741±0.623μgL−1 with maximum of 1.846μgL−1. MCs in pond were 0.597±0.960μgL−1 with maximum of 2.298μgL−1. MCs were also detected in 51.7% of the groundwater samples, MCs in groundwater were 0.060±0.085μgL−1 with maximum of 0.446μgL−1. MCs concentrations in groundwater did not differ significantly among different depths or towns (Wilcoxon test, p>0.05). The average MCs in groundwater in each sampling period were 0.068μgL−1, 0.118μgL−1, 0.052μgL−1, 0.059μgL−1 and 0.020μgL−1. Through multi linear regression, the best fit model was built on MCs in groundwater with River B (R2=0.13, p<0.05), rather than with pond water. The results suggested that MCs contamination in groundwater originated from rivers, causing potential health risk on population who drink groundwater directly.