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. 2021 Nov 4;18(21):11589.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph182111589.

Organochlorine Pesticides in Karst Soil: Levels, Distribution, and Source Diagnosis

Wei Chen  1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9 , Faming Zeng  10 , Wei Liu  8 , Jianwei Bu  1   2   3   4 , Guofeng Hu  11 , Songshi Xie  12 , Hongyan Yao  9 , Hong Zhou  8 , Shihua Qi  1   2   3   4   5   6   7 , Huanfang Huang  5   6   7   13
Affiliations

Organochlorine Pesticides in Karst Soil: Levels, Distribution, and Source Diagnosis

Wei Chen et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Excessive reclamation and improper use of agrochemicals in karst areas leads to serious non-point source pollution, which is of great concern and needs to be controlled, since contaminants can easily pollute groundwater due to the thin patchy soil and developed karst structures. The occurrences of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in karst soil were investigated by analyzing 25 OCPs in the karst soils near the Three Gorges Dam, China. The total concentrations of OCPs ranged 161-43,100 (6410 ± 9620) pg/g, with the most abundant compounds being p,p'-DDT and mirex. The concentration differences between the orchard and vegetable field and between upstream and downstream presented the influences of land-use type and water transport on the OCP spatial distributions. Composition analysis indicated the possible fresh inputs of lindane, technical DDT, aldrin, endrin, mirex, and methoxychlor. Their illegal uses implied an insufficient agrochemical management system in undeveloped karst areas. Principal component analysis with multiple linear regression analysis characterized the dominant sources from current agricultural use and current veterinary use in the study area. OCPs in the soils might not pose significant cancer risk for the residents, but they need to be controlled due to their illegal uses and bioaccumulation effect via the food chain.

Keywords: Three Gorges; agricultural use; illegal use; non-point source pollution; veterinary use.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Location of the karst study area near Three Gorges Dam, China and the soil sampling sites.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Concentrations and detection rates of individual OCPs in the study karst soil.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The spatial distribution of soil OCPs in different river basins.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Isomeric and metabolic ratios for identifying the sources of HCH (a), DDT (b), chlordane (c), endosulfan (d), aldrin (e), and endrin (f) in the study karst soil. Some samples were not plotted because of undetectable target OCP compounds. Results showed the possible current uses of lindane, technical DDT, aldrin, and endrin in the soil.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Loading profiles of PCs (a), factor scores of each soil samples (b), and contributions of current-use agriculture source and current-use veterinary source to the ∑25OCP concentrations in each soil samples (c), based on the PCA + MLRA analysis. PC1, PC2, and PC3 in (a) indicate the current agricultural use, historical agricultural use, and current veterinary use, respectively. The point sizes in (b) represent the concentration levels of ∑OCPs. The poor fits between modeled concentrations and measured concentrations in Sites S15 and S19 in (c) indicate the existence of other dominant pesticide sources (e.g., agrochemical waste dumps).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Loading profiles of PCs (a), factor scores of each soil samples (b), and contributions of current-use agriculture source and current-use veterinary source to the ∑25OCP concentrations in each soil samples (c), based on the PCA + MLRA analysis. PC1, PC2, and PC3 in (a) indicate the current agricultural use, historical agricultural use, and current veterinary use, respectively. The point sizes in (b) represent the concentration levels of ∑OCPs. The poor fits between modeled concentrations and measured concentrations in Sites S15 and S19 in (c) indicate the existence of other dominant pesticide sources (e.g., agrochemical waste dumps).
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