ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Pollution
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1630605
Occurrence and Ecological Risks of Organochlorine Pesticides and Polychlorinated Biphenyls in a Semi-Enclosed Urban Watershed
Provisionally accepted
- State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products, School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China, Ningbo, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are pollutants of global concern due to their toxicity, bioaccumulation, and long-term ecological consequences in marine ecosystems. Their presence and associated hazards were investigated in the water-sediment system of the Xiangshan Harbour Watershed, a zone influenced by both industrial and agricultural activities. Samples were obtained from 19 key locations during autumn (October 2020) and summer (July 2021). OCP concentrations ranged from 0.03-231.52 ng/L in water and 0.28-804.27 μg/kg in sediment, while PCBs ranged from 0.01-7.35 ng/L in water and 0.35-3.77 μg/kg in sediment. The lower section of the XianXiang River (XX-DOWN) was the hotspot for OCPs, and the Huangduan Harbor lower section (HDG-DOWN) was the hotspot for PCBs. Temperature and salinity were positively correlated with pollutant concentrations. Source identification using diagnostic ratios indicated OCPs mainly originated from lindane and technical DDT, while PCA-MLR analysis showed PCBs were sourced from e-waste (15.3%), thermoplastics (57.1%), and pigments (27.6%). Risk quotient (RQ) analysis revealed ecological risks from hexachlorobenzene, PCB 138, and DDT metabolites. Total non-carcinogenic hazard quotient (TnHQ) values remained below 1 for all assessed age groups-infants, children, teens, and adultsindicating low risks. Continuous surveillance along with targeted pollution control strategies in the watershed are encouraged.
Keywords: OCPs, PCBs, SOURCE APPORTIONMENT, Xiangshan Harbour Watershed, Environmental Pollution
Received: 18 May 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liberty, Zhang, Shi and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zeming Zhang, State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-products, School of Marine Sciences, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, PR China, Ningbo, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.