Water quality criteria and ecological risk assessment for ammonia in the Shaying River Basin, China.
Ting-Ting Ding, Shi-Lin Du, Zi-Yan Huang, Ze-Jun Wang, Jin Zhang, Ya-Hui Zhang, Shu-Shen Liu, Lian-Sheng He
Author Information
Ting-Ting Ding: Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, PR China.
Shi-Lin Du: Environmental Analysis and Testing Laboratory, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China.
Zi-Yan Huang: Environmental Analysis and Testing Laboratory, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China; Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Waste Water Resource of Anhui Province, College of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, PR China.
Ze-Jun Wang: Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, PR China.
Jin Zhang: Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Waste Water Resource of Anhui Province, College of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei 230601, PR China.
Ya-Hui Zhang: Environmental Analysis and Testing Laboratory, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China. Electronic address: zhangyahui@craes.org.cn.
Shu-Shen Liu: Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Electronic address: ssliuhl@263.net.
Lian-Sheng He: Environmental Analysis and Testing Laboratory, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China.
Current Chinese surface water environmental quality standard GB3838-2002 for ammonia fails to take water quality factors and native organism distributions in different basins into consideration. In this study, ammoniatoxicity tests were performed using three aquatic organisms native to the Shaying River Basin (China). Published ammoniatoxicity data with pH and temperature, and toxicity data acquired in this study were used to establish water quality criteria. The final criterion maximum concentration (CMC) and criterion continuous concentration (CCC) for the Shaying River Basin were 5.09 and 1.36 (mg total ammonia nitrogen (TAN))/L (pH 7 and 20 °C), respectively. In addition, based on the corresponding relationship between ammoniatoxicity and temperature and pH, the ecological risk assessment of ammonia was conducted in different seasons for the Shaying River using a tiered approach of both hazard quotient (HQ) and the joint probability (JPC) methods. Two methods gave consistent results: the ecological risks of ammonia to aquatic species in the Shaying River Basin were severe and the risk could be ranked as wet season > flat season > dry season. It is therefore indicating that monitoring, evaluation, and early warning of ammonia pollution need to be taken to prevent and control the risks posed by ammonia pollution, especially for wet season (because of high temperatures and pH) or flat season (because of high pH values). We hope the present work could provide valuable information to manage and control ammonia pollution in the Shaying River Basin.
