Development of marine water quality criteria for inorganic mercury in China based on the retrievable toxicity data and a comparison with relevant criteria or guidelines

The development of marine water quality criteria (WQC) in China has been insufficient because data on the toxicity of pollutants for marine organisms based on the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method are lacking. The Chinese aquatic environmental quality standards, including those for seawater, were derived from the developed countries. Therefore, establishing Chinese marine WQC is crucial for identifying the sensitivity of marine species in China and will improve their protection from threats. Mercury (Hg) is one of the primary pollutants commonly exceeding Chinese seawater quality standards. Several countries have developed their marine WQC for inorganic Hg in the past decades, but no study has been conducted in China. In this study, 45 acute toxicity and 14 chronic toxicity data of inorganic Hg on the marine species which inhabit in China were obtained mainly from the ECOTOX database, the CNKI, and the Google Scholar. The acute and chronic hazardous concentrations for 5% of the species (HC₅) were calculated based on the best-fit distribution model Sweibull. The criteria for maximum and continuous concentrations of 1.30 and 0.66 μg/L, respectively, for inorganic Hg to protect marine organisms in China were derived by halving the HC₅ values. The criteria were comparable to those of the United States, Australia, and the European Union countries, indicating the general applicability of WQCs developed based on the classical SSD method using different species groups. This study may provide valuable information for assessing marine ecological risk in China.

Water quality criteria derivation and ecological risk assessment for triphenyltin in China

Triphenyltin (TPT) is one of the most toxic chemicals artificially discharged into aquatic environment with human activities. Due to its intensive use in antifouling paints and adverse effects on non-target species, TPT has aroused wide concern in both saltwater and freshwater environment. Nevertheless, the water quality criteria (WQC) are not available in China, which impedes the risk assessment for this emerging pollutant. This study aims to establish the WQC of TPT for both freshwater and saltwater ecosystems. With the derived WQC, a four-level tiered ecological risk assessment (ERA) approach was employed to assess the ecological risks of this emerging pollutant in Chinese waters. Through the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) methodology, the freshwater criterion maximum concentration (CMC) and criterion continuous concentration (CCC) were derived as 396 ng Sn L^-1 and 5.60 ng Sn L^-1, respectively, whereas the saltwater CMC and CCC were 66.5 ng Sn L^-1 and 4.11 ng Sn L^-1, respectively. The ecological risk assessment for TPT demonstrated that the acute risk was negligible whereas the chronic risk was significant with HQ (Hazard Quotient) values of up to 5.669 and 57.1% of coastal waters in China facing clear risk. TPT contamination in coastal environment, therefore, warrants further concern.

Deriving water quality criteria for trivalent and pentavalent arsenic

Arsenic (As) is a common trace element whose oxidation states mainly include four types (-3, 0, +3, and +5), and inorganic As(III) and As(V) are regarded as the most commonly existing forms in aqueous environments. Generally, As(III) has a higher toxicity than As(V) due to the different mechanisms in arsenic toxicity. However, there are few studies about the water quality criteria (WQC) of As(III) and As(V) respectively because of the deficiency of arsenic toxicity data coming from diverse taxonomic groups. In this research, eight native Chinese aquatic organisms were adopted to conduct toxicity tests for As(III) and As(V) to supplement the published toxicity data. The species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method on the basis of the Log-normal model which was the most optimal among eight models was applied to derive WQCs of As(III) and As(V). Results showed that crustaceans were the most sensitive to As(III) and As(V) among all tested species, thus they could be a biological indicator, and the influence of pH values on arsenic toxicity was complex and species-specific. Besides, the sensitivity differences between native and non-native species were observed. Finally, a criterion maximum concentration (CMC) of 167 and 384μg/L for As(III) and As(V), and a criterion continuous concentration (CCC) of 42 and 44μg/L for As(III) and As(V) were derived using native species, regardless of pH values. The WQCs were also verified by other two methods of ETX 2.0 and species sensitivity rank.