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Levels, distribution profile, and risk assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in water and sediment from two tributaries of the River Chenab, Pakistan

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Abstract

The first study aimed to investigate the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentration level, spatial distribution pattern, and ecological risk assessment of water and sediment samples from two tributaries (Nullah Aik and Palkhu) of the River Chenab, Punjab Province, Pakistan. A total of 32 PCB congeners were analyzed, and PCB concentration in sediment and water samples ranged between 0.80 and 60 ng/g and 0.20 and 28 ng/L, respectively, where tetra-CBs and tri-CBs dominated over other studied PCB homologs. Dioxin toxicity equivalency (TEQ) was calculated and PCB-126 and PCB-169 showed the higher TEQ values compared with the WHO guidelines, and sediment samples were more toxic than the water samples. The results of the present study should be considered seriously by government authorities to take a proper action against unchecked discharge of contaminants in ecological integrities; otherwise, there may be drastic results in the near future.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for providing support under the International Research Support Initiative Program. The authors also express their thanks to Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China and to Prof. Dr. Xiandong Li (Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) for providing assistance for sample transportation to Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Guangzhou, China. Finally, the authors acknowledge Mr. Irfan Ali Ch, who served as a guide during sample collection from far areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Biology and Ecotoxicology Laboratory, Department of Plant Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, PO, 45320, Pakistan

    Adeel Mahmood

  2. Environmental Biology and Ecotoxicology Laboratory, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad, PO, 45320, Pakistan

    Riffat Naseem Malik

  3. State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Jun Li & Gan Zhang

Authors
  1. Adeel Mahmood
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  2. Riffat Naseem Malik
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  3. Jun Li
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  4. Gan Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Riffat Naseem Malik.

Additional information

Responsible editor: Leif Kronberg

Electronic supplementary material

One table (SI Table) is provided in the supplementary data presenting the basic statistics of PCB concentrations in sediment and water samples from different sampling zones.

SI Table 1

Descriptive statistics of PCB congeners in sediment (nanograms per gram) and water (picograms per gram) from each zone of the study area (DOCX 30 kb)

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Mahmood, A., Malik, R.N., Li, J. et al. Levels, distribution profile, and risk assessment of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in water and sediment from two tributaries of the River Chenab, Pakistan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 7847–7855 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2730-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-2730-1

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