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Article

Assessing the Effect of a Newly Implemented Basic Wastewater Discharge Standard on the Concentrations of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in the Daqing River Basin, China

by
Jingyi Xie
1,
Yaran Pan
1,2,
Boyang Zheng
1,
Yufei Liu
1,
Haixiao Li
1,
Yufeng Wu
3,
Lirong Li
3,
Zhao Shan
4,
Kailing Xin
4,
Naili Wang
4,
Bo Zhang
5 and
Xueqiang Lu
1,*
1
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environmental Technology for Complex Trans-Media Pollution and Tianjin International Joint Research Center for Environmental Biogeochemical Technology, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
2
SGS-CSTC Standards Technical Services Company Limited, Ningbo 315200, China
3
Tianjin Eco-Environmental Monitoring Center, Tianjin 300191, China
4
Tianjin Huanke Environmental Testing Company Limited, Tianjin 300191, China
5
R&D Department, FS Limited, Katikati 3129, New Zealand
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Water 2023, 15(6), 1151; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15061151
Submission received: 9 February 2023 / Revised: 27 February 2023 / Accepted: 8 March 2023 / Published: 16 March 2023
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration in Freshwater and Marine Systems)
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Abstract

:
Wastewater discharge standards often play a crucial role in water environmental management. However, most of these standards only focus on conventional water pollutants such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), ammonia (NH3-N), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP). It is unclear if there is an impact on the removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). The Daqing River Basin is an important water system in China. In 2018, a new wastewater discharge standard for the Daqing River Basin (DB 13/2795–2018) was issued, which mainly limits the discharge of conventional water pollutants, including COD (20–40 mg L−1), BOD5 (4–10 mg L−1), NH3-N (1–2 mg L−1), TN (10–15 mg L−1), and TP (0.2–0.4 mg L−1). Herein, we evaluated the performance of the new wastewater discharge standard, especially the effect on the removal of PPCPs. We characterized the occurrence of PPCPs and the resulting ecological impact in the basin, and compared the occurrence of PPCPs before (2017) and after (2021) implementation of the standard. A total of 16 PPCPs were detected, of which diclofenac, carbamazepine, ibuprofen, and bezafibrate pose risks to crustaceans and fish in the basin. A positive impact from the implemented standard, on the removal of some PPCPs, was confirmed, especially for lincomycin and trimethoprim.

1. Introduction

The rapid economic development in China has caused the deterioration of surface water quality over the past several decades [1]. Water pollution causes the loss of 40 billion tons of water each year [2]. Solving the water quality problem has become one of the important issues for China in the 21st century [2]. Therefore, local authorities have successively implemented stricter local wastewater discharge standards in recent years [3]. Generally, only conventional water pollutants are included in the standards, although emerging contaminants have attracted attention over the years because of their amassing and persistence in the aquatic environment. Because the implementation of stricter standards is costly and contentious, there is a need to comprehensively evaluate the performance of the new standards, for example, the added value on the elimination of emerging contaminants. Indeed, it is unclear if there is a positive impact on the removal of emerging contaminants, for instance, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs).
In recent decades, PPCPs have become emerging contaminants, due to their potential adverse impacts on ecological health [4]. PPCPs refers to products intended for medical use in humans and animals, mainly consisting of antibiotics, blood lipid regulators, bactericides, anti-inflammatory, and anti-convulsant drugs [5]. As wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are not specially constructed to treat PPCPs, their relevant technological parameters (e.g., hydraulic and sludge retention time) are not designed to ensure the formation of sufficient biomass concentrations, thereby increasing microbial diversity and improving the removal effect of persistent contaminants, such as PPCPs [6]. These PPCPs were discharged from tenements, pharmaceutical factories, hospitals, stock raising, and aquaculture into the aquatic environment, after incomplete treatment by WWTPs [4,7]. Exposure to even low concentrations of PPCPs (level of ng L−1) in the aquatic environment can pose risks to aquatic ecosystems [7]. Constant exposure to PPCPs may lessen biodiversity in the aquatic environment, leading to the loss of ecosystem functions [8]. PPCPs have become important contaminants, threatening the wellness of surface water ecosystems, especially in regions with rapid development of urbanization and industrialization.
The Daqing River Basin is an important water system in China, 483 km in length and with a drainage area of 43,060 km2, across two provinces, Shanxi and Hebei, and the two megacities of Beijing and Tianjin (Figure 1). The Daqing River Basin is a source of drinking water, industrial, and agricultural water for more than 13 million people. From north to south, the Juma, Fu, and Xiaoyi Rivers are three major tributaries in the Daqing River Basin. The inflows of the Juma, Fu, and Xiaoyi Rivers include industrial wastewater, the tailwater from WWTPs, and domestic sewage, which may lead to pollution in Lake Baiyangdian and even the Bohai Sea, thereby threatening human health and ecosystems in these regions. In 2018, a new wastewater discharge standard for the Daqing River Basin (DB 13/2795–2018) was issued and immediately implemented, to enhance the effluent control. Similar to other local standards in China, such as Tianjin’s integrated wastewater discharge standard DB12/356–2008, only five conventional pollutants, i.e., chemical oxygen demand (COD), 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), ammonia (NH3-N), total nitrogen (TN), and total phosphorus (TP), were included in the standard; the specific emission limits of these pollutants are shown in Table 1. It is unclear how the standard contributes to the control of PPCPs, which is crucial to pollution prevention and the control of PPCPs in the Daqing River Basin.
Previous studies have suggested that the concentrations of PPCPs were correlated with conventional water pollutants in the aquatic systems, and a good correlation indicates that these pollutants have similar pollution sources and environmental fates [9]. Based on this, we investigated the contribution of conventional pollutant-focused discharge standards on the control of PPCPs and assessed the performance of the standards more comprehensively. The above-mentioned standard of the Daqing River Basin, formulated in 2018, can be used as a case to evaluate the impact of its implementation on the removal of conventional and non-conventional water pollutants. Fortunately, a previous study monitored PPCPs in the Daqing River Basin in 2017 [10], and can provide the baseline data of PPCPs in the basin, before the new standard implementation.
In this study, the research objectives were: (1) to characterize the occurrence of PPCPs in the Daqing River Basin; and (2) to evaluate the spillover effect of the new standard’s implementation on the removal of PPCPs via the comparison of PPCPs distribution before and after the implementation of the standard.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Sample Collection

As shown in Figure 1, the sampling sites are located in the Daqing River Basin, including six sites in the Juma River (JB1, JB2, JW1, JE1, JE2, JE3), eight sites in the Fu River (FB1, FW1, FW2, FW3, FE1, FE2, FE3, FE4), eight sites in the Xiaoyi River (XB1, XB2, XW1, XW2, XW3, XE1, XE2, XE3), one site in Lake Baiyangdian (LB), and one site in the Daqing River downstream outlet (DR), from 30 March to 1 April 2021. The sampling sites can be separated into background sites (JB1, JB2, FB1, XB1, XB2), sites close to WWTP outlets (JW1, FW1, FW2, FW3, XW1, XW2, XW3), and environmental monitoring sites of the rivers (JE1, JE2, JE3, FE1, FE2, FE3, FE4, XE1, XE2, XE3). A surface water sample (2 L) was collected from each sampling site and stored in situ, in brown glass containers rinsed with distilled water and methanol in advance, for further processing.

2.2. Pretreatment and Instrumental Analysis

In total, 24 target PPCPs (Table S1), which are frequently detected and prioritized in China [11,12], were selected for analysis. A mixed standard solution of PPCPs (μg L−1) was prepared for quantitative and quality control (QC) analyses [13]. Ethyl acetate, acetone, and acetic acid were added in appropriate amounts for the dissolution of some compounds (e.g., clarithromycin, trimethoprim, and indomethacin) that have low solubility in pure methanol. The purity of the reference standards for preparation was 98% or higher, and the experimental water and solvent were HPLC grade.
The water samples (100 mL of each sample) were filtered by 0.2 μm membrane filters (Whatman ME 25, Manchester, UK), and pretreated according to the EPA 1694 method (US EPA, 2007), then quantitatively analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) (Waters, Milford, MA, USA). The analysis method used has been described in previous studies [14].
The QC was carried out by standard recovery ratio of the spiked samples (spiked concentration: 0.1–5 µg L−1). A procedural blank was applied for sample analysis. The relevant parameters are shown in the Supplementary Information (Table S2).
The conventional water pollutants, including COD, BOD5, TP, TN, and NH3-N were also measured according to the Chinese national standard methods.

2.3. Assessment of Ecological Risk

The risk quotient (RQ) was used to assess the ecological risks of the PPCPs [15]. The analysis method was the same as that used in previous studies [14]. Relevant data are presented in Table S3.
The aquatic organisms used for RQ evaluation included algae, crustaceans, and fish, the RQ value was divided into three categories according to the risk level: low (0.01–0.1), medium (0.1–1), and high (>1) [10,16].

2.4. Statistical Analysis

A non-parametric statistical method, using the SAS 9.4 software (SAS Institute Inc, Raleigh, NC, USA), was used to calculate the numerical values of PPCPs, which are shown as the mean of the rank sums of PPCPs, to conduct the cluster analysis of PPCPs in different sites, and to analyze the Spearman’s correlation between the PPCPs and conventional water pollutants.

3. Results

Occurrence, Spatial Distribution and Ecological Risk of PPCPs

The rank sums of the PPCPs (16 kinds in total) are presented in Figure 2. The mean of the rank sums of the detected PPCPs ranged from 76.3–278. Six PPCPs have a mean of the rank sums greater than 200, with a high detection frequency, over 50%, including ofloxacin, erythromycin, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, lincomycin, and norfloxacin. The mean of the rank sums of the other ten detected PPCPs, such as diclofenac and roxithromycin, were lower than 200 (Figure 2 and Table S4).
The RQs of the PPCPs to aquatic organisms were determined (Figure 3). Only a few PPCPs have high risk (RQ > 1) to aquatic organisms, which were diclofenac (RQ = 2.26), carbamazepine (RQ = 1.63), ibuprofen (RQ = 3.92), and bezafibrate (RQ = 2.04). Diclofenac and carbamazepine pose a high risk to crustaceans, while ibuprofen and bezafibrate pose a high risk to fish.

4. Discussion

4.1. Contamination Characteristics of PPCPs

For all detected PPCPs, antibiotics were the principal contaminants. The annual consumption of antibiotics accounts for about 70% of all pharmaceuticals, from available consumption data in China, and north China is the second largest antibiotic-contaminated zone, including the Daqing River Basin [11,17]. Ofloxacin was the principal contaminant, with the highest mean of the rank sums of all the detected antibiotics (Figure 2, Table S4). In China, it has been listed in the top five antibiotics used in humans [18]. Ofloxacin is also a commonly used veterinary drug, for breeding enterprises. The high detection frequency of ofloxacin may be associated with the discharge of water from WWTPs and discharge of livestock wastewater in the basin, because of the variability in removal rate of ofloxacin in WWTPs (10–100%) and its wide use in livestock breeding [6]. Erythromycin and sulfamethoxazole were also important contaminants (Figure 2, Table S4). Similar to ofloxacin, erythromycin and sulfamethoxazole are commonly used drugs in humans and animals [19], and cannot be completely removed in WWTPs (84–100% for erythromycin and 20–100% for sulfamethoxazole); the factors governing their occurrence may be similar to ofloxacin [6]. The anticonvulsant carbamazepine, had a relatively higher mean of the rank sums than the other non-antibiotic PPCPs (Figure 2, Table S4). As an indicator of PPCP contamination [20], carbamazepine has the characteristics of high consumption, low biodegradability, and persistence, this causes carbamazepine to be frequently detected in surface water [21,22,23], the concentration can reach 1346 ng L−1 [24].
The occurrences of PPCPs in other water systems are shown in Table S5. Compared with other water systems in China (ND—810 ng L−1) and overseas (ND—250 ng L−1), this study has a low contamination level of PPCPs (ND—24.3 ng L−1). As an important exporter and consumer of pharmaceuticals, the overall contamination level by PPCPs in China, is higher than that found abroad [25,26]. High contamination levels of PPCPs are usually accompanied by high population density, such as the Beiyun (1322 people/km2) and Liao Rivers (860 people/km2) [12,27,28]. Whereas, water recycling is also a factor affecting the contamination level of PPCPs [29,30,31]. For example, researchers found that the increasing water contamination by PPCPs (26–250 ng L−1) in the Jordan Valley was related to the intense reutilization (for irrigation in agriculture) of wastewater [29]. Saudi Arabia also proposed the recycling of wastewater for irrigation in agriculture, indirectly leading to water contamination by PPCPs (0.08–1188 ng L−1) [32,33]. In addition, incomplete urban drainage systems in individual regions may also affect the occurrence of PPCPs [34]. For example, untreated gray water discharged into the environment, resulted in the pollution of surface water in un-sewered areas in Japan [34]. Besides, different contamination profiles in surface water may be caused by different consumption of pharmaceuticals [35,36,37].
The spatial distribution of PPCPs showed that the Juma and Fu Rivers are markedly different from the Xiaoyi River, Lake Baiyangdian, and the Daqing River downstream (p < 0.05) (Figure 4 and Table S6). The high accumulation of PPCPs in the Juma and Fu Rivers may be affected by their local population and industry. The Juma and Fu Rivers flow through the urban areas of Beijing and Baoding, with relatively high populations, of 3.63 and 4.24 million, respectively, while the Xiaoyi River is located in a rural area, with a population of 1.1 million. The lower cumulative concentration in Lake Baiyangdian and the Daqing River downstream, may be attributed to PPCPs’ adsorption, dilution, and microbial degradation in the wetlands of Lake Baiyangdian [38].
The Juma, Fu, and Xiaoyi Rivers could be clustered into multiple subgroups, with different cumulative concentrations of PPCPs (Figure 4), the reaches close to WWTP outlets, and for environmental monitoring, with high cumulative concentrations of PPCPs, are different from other reaches (Figure 4 and Figure S1, and Table S6). For the Juma River, site JW1, with the highest concentration of PPCPs, was different from other sites, and is close to a WWTP outlet, indicating that the discharge of tailwater from WWTPs might be an important source, as not all the PPCPs can be removed in the WWTP. This importance of WWTPs would increase with the promotion of wastewater collection in the basin, as the amount of PPCPs in the influent of WWTPs will increase with the increased wastewater collection. It was observed that the FW2 and XW2 sites greatly influence the distribution of PPCPs in the Fu and Xiaoyi Rivers, respectively, indicating that the discharge of tailwater from WWTPs is the primary influencing factor of the PPCP distribution in the Daqing River Basin. In addition, there are other emission sources that affect the distribution of PPCPs, besides WWTPs. High cumulative concentrations of PPCPs were observed in the non-WWTP-receiving sites of the Juma (JE1, JE2, and JE3) and Fu Rivers (FE2, FE3, and FE4). The middle and lower reaches of the Juma River (JE1, JE2, and JE3), located in rural areas, were mainly polluted by erythromycin and sulfamethoxazole, indicating that these areas may be affected by the discharge of wastewater from breeding enterprises and rural residents. The upstream of the Fu River (FE2), situated in the urban area of Baoding, was mainly polluted by ofloxacin, indicating that it may be affected by the release of wastewater from pharmaceutical industries, such as hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. The major contaminants in the downstream of the Fu River (FE3 and FE4) were ofloxacin and carbamazepine (for human use), these sites were in rural areas, implying that the possible sources of pollution could be breeding enterprises and rural residents. The contamination level of PPCPs in the Xiaoyi River was relatively low. However, the concentrations of PPCPs (mainly ofloxacin) at the background site were abruptly high, indicating that there were important pollution point sources in the upstream of the Xiaoyi River, similar to the downstream of the Fu River.
The risk distribution of PPCPs is similar to the concentration distribution of PPCPs (Figure 5). The risks of PPCPs in this study seemed to be relatively low, compared to other previous studies [7,28,39].

4.2. The Impact of New Standard Implementation on PPCPs

The changes in the concentrations of 11 PPCPs, before [10] and after (this study) the implementation of the standard, are shown in Table 2. The pollution level of related PPCPs (0–58.7 ng L−1) decreased compared with the previous study (4.89–129 ng L−1) [10], which may be connected with the upgrading and rebuilding of WWTPs due to the implementation of the standard. Seven PPCPs decreased with implementation of the new standard, including sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine, lincomycin, oxytetracycline, tetracycline, chlortetracycline, and trimethoprim. These seven PPCPs were mainly detected in the Juma River, where WWTPs have an important influence on the distribution of PPCPs, as mentioned above. Therefore, the wastewater treatment technology of WWTPs may be a critical factor affecting the changes in the pollution level of PPCPs, and the discharge of conventional water pollutants was related to the wastewater treatment process as well. As shown in Figure 6 and Table S7, the PPCPs with good correlations with conventional pollutants might have similar environmental fates.
The attenuation of pollutants in WWTPs is mainly achieved by microbial degradation and adsorption [40]. BOD5, TN, and NH3-N were mainly eliminated by microbial degradation, and their occurrence was significantly related to some PPCPs (e.g., lincomycin and trimethoprim), indicating their similar environmental fates (Figure 6). For example, the nitrogen pollutant-correlated PPCPs (e.g., lincomycin and trimethoprim) can be removed by co-metabolism of functional microorganisms. Generally, biodegradation is the principal influence factor of PPCP removal, because most PPCPs cannot be effectively removed by adsorption, due to their good hydrophilicity (log Kow < 4) [6]. Previous studies have shown that denitrifying and nitrifying bacteria can effectively degrade PPCPs through co-metabolism while denitrifying [41,42,43]. In addition, the impact of the implementation of the new standard on some PPCPs (oxytetracycline, tetracycline, and chlortetracycline) cannot be evaluated, because their observed concentrations were lower than the detection limit, but a positive effect on them could not be excluded.
Different to the above pharmaceuticals, sulfadiazine and sulfamethazine showed no significant correlation with conventional water pollutants, but their concentrations have decreased significantly after the new standard implementation (Figure 6 and Table 2). This means that the implementation of the standard has no effect on the removal of these PPCPs. It is speculated that the changes in consumption in the basin, correspondingly changed the PPCPs load in the influent of WWTPs. Similarly, PPCPs (such as sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, and carbamazepine) that are significantly related to conventional water pollutants, but were almost unchanged in concentration after the new standard implementation, can also be explained. For example, as a common psychotropic drug, the sales of carbamazepine have risen steadily for the past few years, with an increase of 7.83% in 2019. This affects the use of carbamazepine and leads to an increase in its loading in the discharge wastewater. Due to the elevated load, even a high removal rate cannot be sufficient to reduce the load of this PPCP in the river [6].
It was also observed that ofloxacin has no significant correlation with conventional water pollutants, and was almost unchanged after the new standard implementation (Figure 6 and Table 2), which could be due to multiple reasons. The first might be the contribution from non-point source pollution. Point source pollution was the major control object in the standard, while non-point source pollution was difficult to control using one standard, due to the complexity of pollution sources. Ofloxacin, which was primarily distributed in the rural areas of the Fu River, may not be effectively removed, by reason of the contribution of rural non-point source pollution. Secondly, ofloxacin is not susceptible to biodegradation. Ofloxacin has been shown to hardly be removed in WWTPs [6,44,45].
As discussed above, the upgrading and reconstruction of wastewater treatment technology with new standard implementation, could be useful in controlling the emissions of PPCPs related to conventional pollutants, especially for treatment technologies that can effectively remove nitrogen, phosphorus, and organics, such as multilevel anoxic/oxic technology. However, it is worth noting, that the result might be watershed specific. Different influencing factors, such as consumption and discharge patterns for pharmaceuticals, may lead to different correlation results [9].
Except for PPCPs that can be controlled with the standard implementation, we also found that some PPCPs (e.g., ofloxacin, etc.) had very different patterns, indicating that their management needs special attention, with probably a specific standard. Therefore, it is necessary to further clarify the removal mechanisms of PPCPs, and the different factors that affect these mechanisms, in subsequent studies in order to effectively control the emission of PPCPs.

5. Conclusions

We analyzed the distribution of PPCPs in 2021 in the Daqing River Basin, China, and compared it with the data in 2017, before the implementation of a new wastewater discharge standard. Sixteen PPCPs (eleven antibiotics and five non-antibiotics) were detected, and their concentrations were mainly affected by the discharge of wastewater from WWTPs. The implementation of the new wastewater discharge standard for the Daqing River Basin may have had a positive impact on the removal of some PPCPs (e.g., lincomycin and trimethoprim), but not all PPCPs can be simultaneously removed with conventional water pollutants, in WWTPs. High consumption, low biodegradability, and various sources increase the complexity of the distribution of PPCPs, limit their removal, and increase their ecological risk. It is worth noting that the result might be watershed specific. Different influencing factors, such as consumption and discharge patterns for pharmaceuticals, may lead to different correlation results. The pollution control of individual, high-risk PPCPs should be taken seriously, to avoid higher risks to the ecological environment. Therefore, it is necessary to further clarify the removal mechanisms of PPCPs, and the different factors that affect these mechanisms, in subsequent studies, in order to effectively control the emission of PPCPs.

Supplementary Materials

The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/w15061151/s1, Figure S1: Cumulative concentrations of PPCPs in different types of sampling sites; Table S1: PPCPs detected in surface water of the Daqing River Basin; Table S2: Determination and quality control information for PPCPs. Q, quantification transition of different cone and collision voltages; LOD, limit of detection; Table S3: Toxicity data of PPCPs; Table S4: Occurrence of PPCPs in surface water of the Daqing River Basin; Table S5: Comparison of median concentrations (ng L−1) of 16 detectable PPCPs in this study with others; Table S6: Concentrations (ng L−1) of PPCPs at all sampling sites; Table S7: Concentrations (mg/L) of conventional water pollutants at different sampling sites.

Author Contributions

Investigation, J.X., Y.P., Z.S., K.X. and N.W.; data curation, J.X., Y.P., B.Z. (Boyang Zheng), Y.L., H.L., Y.W. and L.L.; writing—original draft preparation, J.X.; writing—review and editing, B.Z. (Bo Zhang), H.L. and X.L.; conception and supervision, X.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research was funded by Tianjin Science and Technology Program (21YFSNSN00220), Hebei Province Key Research & Development Program (22373301D) and Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment of China (2018ZX07110-007).

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Water 15 01151 g001 550
Figure 1. Sampling sites in the Daqing River Basin, including the Juma River (J), the Fu River (F), the Xiaoyi River (X), Lake Baiyangdian (LB), and the Daqing River downstream (DR).
Figure 1. Sampling sites in the Daqing River Basin, including the Juma River (J), the Fu River (F), the Xiaoyi River (X), Lake Baiyangdian (LB), and the Daqing River downstream (DR).
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Figure 2. The rank sums (indicates the occurrence of a PPCP) of PPCPs in the Daqing River Basin.
Figure 2. The rank sums (indicates the occurrence of a PPCP) of PPCPs in the Daqing River Basin.
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Figure 3. The RQs of PPCPs in the Daqing River Basin.
Figure 3. The RQs of PPCPs in the Daqing River Basin.
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Figure 4. Heatmap of PPCP concentrations (scale in ng L−1) in the Daqing River Basin, and cluster analysis of sampling sites.
Figure 4. Heatmap of PPCP concentrations (scale in ng L−1) in the Daqing River Basin, and cluster analysis of sampling sites.
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Figure 5. The ecological risk distribution of high-risk PPCPs in the Daqing River Basin. (a) Diclofenac, (b) Carbamazepine, (c) Ibuprofen, (d) Bezafibrate. The impact of the new standard’s implementation on PPCPs.
Figure 5. The ecological risk distribution of high-risk PPCPs in the Daqing River Basin. (a) Diclofenac, (b) Carbamazepine, (c) Ibuprofen, (d) Bezafibrate. The impact of the new standard’s implementation on PPCPs.
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Figure 6. Spearman’s correlation coefficients between PPCPs and conventional water pollutants.
Figure 6. Spearman’s correlation coefficients between PPCPs and conventional water pollutants.
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Table
Table 1. Discharge concentration limit (mg L−1) of water pollutants specified in the wastewater discharge standard for the Daqing River Basin (DB 13/2795–2018).
Table 1. Discharge concentration limit (mg L−1) of water pollutants specified in the wastewater discharge standard for the Daqing River Basin (DB 13/2795–2018).
PollutantsDischarge Concentration Limit (mg L−1)
COD20–40
BOD54–10
NH3-N1–2
TN10–15
TP0.2–0.4
Table
Table 2. Concentrations of PPCPs (ng L−1) in the Daqing River Basin, before and after (this study) the implementation of the new standard (DB 13/2795–2018).
Table 2. Concentrations of PPCPs (ng L−1) in the Daqing River Basin, before and after (this study) the implementation of the new standard (DB 13/2795–2018).
NameBefore Standard Implementation (ng L−1)After Standard Implementation (ng L−1)
Sulfadiazine10.9 ± 4.31.7 ± 1.2
Sulfamethazine23.1 ± 11.60.5 ± 0.2
Sulfamethoxazole35.2 ± 4.530.7 ± 20.2
Lincomycin129 ± 91.29.8 ± 1.8
Erythromycin51.4 ± 19.858.7 ± 19.8
Oxytetracycline25.1 ± 3.8ND
Tetracycline28.1 ± 8.2ND
Chlortetracycline4.9 ± 1.1ND
Ofloxacin36 ± 854.8 ± 34.7
Trimethoprim25.2 ± 3.73.1 ± 1.6
Carbamazepine94.9 ± 40.439.4 ± 26.4
Notes: ND, not detected.
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MDPI and ACS Style

Xie, J.; Pan, Y.; Zheng, B.; Liu, Y.; Li, H.; Wu, Y.; Li, L.; Shan, Z.; Xin, K.; Wang, N.; et al. Assessing the Effect of a Newly Implemented Basic Wastewater Discharge Standard on the Concentrations of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in the Daqing River Basin, China. Water 2023, 15, 1151. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15061151

AMA Style

Xie J, Pan Y, Zheng B, Liu Y, Li H, Wu Y, Li L, Shan Z, Xin K, Wang N, et al. Assessing the Effect of a Newly Implemented Basic Wastewater Discharge Standard on the Concentrations of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in the Daqing River Basin, China. Water. 2023; 15(6):1151. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15061151

Chicago/Turabian Style

Xie, Jingyi, Yaran Pan, Boyang Zheng, Yufei Liu, Haixiao Li, Yufeng Wu, Lirong Li, Zhao Shan, Kailing Xin, Naili Wang, and et al. 2023. "Assessing the Effect of a Newly Implemented Basic Wastewater Discharge Standard on the Concentrations of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in the Daqing River Basin, China" Water 15, no. 6: 1151. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15061151

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