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Deriving water quality criteria for China for the organophosphorus pesticides dichlorvos and malathion

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Abstract

Organophosphorus pesticides are effective, cheap, and used extensively but can harm aquatic organism and human health. Here, water quality criteria (WQCs) for dichlorvos (DDVP) and malathion (MAL) were derived. Nine aquatic organisms native to China were used in toxicity tests. Published toxicity data for aquatic organisms native and non-native to China were also analyzed. DDVP and MAL WQCs were derived using (log-normal model) species sensitivity distributions. Species sensitivity distribution curves indicated native and non-native species have different sensitivities to DDVP. The sensitivities of native and non-native species to MAL were not different because non-native species data for fewer than eight genera were available, so further research is required. The results indicated that native species need to be considered when deriving WQCs. The criteria maximum concentration (CMC) and criteria continuous concentration (CCC) were 1.33 and 0.132 μg/L, respectively, for DDVP, and 0.100 and 0.008 μg/L, respectively, for MAL. The CMCs for DDVP and MAL derived using ETX 2.0 software and species sensitivity ranks were different from the CMCs obtained using the SSD method because of parameter uncertainties. The DDVP and MAL WQCs were significantly lower than Chinese surface water quality standard thresholds. The results provide basic data for revising these thresholds.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Science and Technology Project of Water Pollution Control and Abatement of China (grant no. 2017ZX07602−003), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 51268008), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 21677001 and 21207002), and the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province, China (grant no. 1708085MB50).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Waste Water Resource of Anhui Province, College of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, China

    Ting-ting Ding & Jin Zhang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Environmental Analysis and Testing Laboratory of CRAES, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China

    Ting-ting Ding, Ya-hui Zhang, Yan Zhu, Ying Cao, Yi-zhe Wang, Gong-ting Wang & Lian-sheng He

  3. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004, China

    Shi-lin Du

  4. Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Jin Zhang

  5. College of Civil and Architectural Engineering, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan, 063210, Hebei, China

    Gong-ting Wang

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  1. Ting-ting Ding
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  2. Ya-hui Zhang
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Correspondence to Ya-hui Zhang.

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Ding, Tt., Zhang, Yh., Zhu, Y. et al. Deriving water quality criteria for China for the organophosphorus pesticides dichlorvos and malathion. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 34622–34632 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06546-4

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