Occurrence and risk assessment of microcystin and its relationship with environmental factors in lakes of the eastern plain ecoregion, China.

Occurrence and risk assessment of microcystin and its relationship with environmental factors in lakes of the eastern plain ecoregion, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2020 Aug 10;: Authors: Wan X, Steinman AD, Gu Y, Zhu G, Shu X, Xue Q, Zou W, Xie L Abstract The frequent occurrence of microcystins (MCs) in freshwater poses serious threats to the drinking water safety and health of human beings. Although MCs have been detected in individual fresh waters in China, little is known about their occurrence over a large geographic scale. An investigation of 30 subtropical lakes in eastern China was performed during summer 2018 to determine the MCs concentrations in water and their possible risk via direct water consumption to humans, and to assess the associated environmental factors. MCs were detected in 28 of 30 lakes, and the highest mean MCs concentrations occurred in Lake Chaohu (26.7 μg/L), followed by Lake Taihu (3.11 μg/L). MC-LR was the primary variant observed in our study, and MCs were mainly produced by Microcystis, Anabaena (Dolicospermum), and Oscillatoria in these lakes. Replete nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, irradiance, and stable water column conditions were critical for dominance of MC-producing cyanobacteria and high MCs production in our study. Hazard quotients indicated that human health risk of MCs in most lakes was at moderate or low levels except Lakes Chaohu and Taihu. Nutrient control management is ...
Source: Environmental Science and Pollution Research International - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Environ Sci Pollut Res Int Source Type: research