Abstract:
To elucidate the contamination occurrence characteristics and environmental risks of typical pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the surface water of the Jiyun River Basin in Tianjin, we selected 57 PPCPs from 10 categories as target compounds. Surface water samples were collected from 12 sampling sites in the basin during the dry and wet seasons of 2024. Solid-phase extraction coupled with ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (SPE-UPLC-MS/MS) was employed to analyze their pollution levels and spatiotemporal distribution patterns. In accordance with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and the European Commission Technical Guidance Document on Risk Assessment, the risk quotient method was used to assess the human health and aquatic ecological risks of target compounds. The results showed that 17 of the 57 target PPCPs were detected at various levels, with concentrations ranging from not detected (N.D.) to 720.57 ng/L. Among them, sulfamethoxazole, caffeine (CAF), and 1,7-dimethylxanthine (DTX) exhibited a 100% detection frequency. The total concentration of ΣPPCPs was higher in the wet season than in the dry season. Spatially, the pollution level followed the order of midstream > downstream > upstream in the wet season, and downstream > midstream > upstream in the dry season. Correlation analysis showed that DTX had an extremely significant positive correlation with ΣPPCPs (
r=0.787,
p<0.01), indicating that domestic sewage input was an important source of PPCPs pollution in the basin. The risk assessment indicated that the target PPCPs posed no significant health risk to people of all age groups via drinking water exposure, with the cumulative health risk quotient ranging from 2.24×10
-4 to 1.68×10
-2, and infants aged 0~3 months were the most sensitive group. Aquatic ecological risk exhibited significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity, with higher risk in the dry season than in the wet season. Roxithromycin and CAF were the priority control pollutants in the basin.