Persistent organic pollutants in Chinese waterways: Occurrence, remediation, and epidemiological perspectives

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are increasing in waterways due to human activities and their concentration above a certain level is highly toxic with acute damage. In this manuscript, we have compiled the data of these POPs in Chinese freshwater channels, lakes, and corresponding coastal areas from the studies performed in the last twelve years. All the water channels were contaminated with Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), Organo-chlorine pesticides (OCPs), and Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Although most of these water channels maintain the GB5749–2006 guideline for POPs, Liaohe River, Huaihe River, Yangpu Bay, Taihu Lake, Liuzhou surface water, Pearl River Estuary, and Jinzhou Bay have toxicity levels and the maximum concentration of these POPs is above the defined safe limits. Pharmacokinetic data for thirty-eight POPs by SwissADME showed that they are highly penetrable through the skin (Log Kp -6.02 to 0.15) and orally absorbable (bioavailability score 0.55). Therefore, these waterways have acute damaging potential. This indicates that using these water channels for municipal supplies might lead to massive health hazards. Therefore, careful mapping and treatment are necessary before the utilization of water from these water reservoirs.