Source, Distribution and Potential Risk of Antimony in Water and Sediments of Danjiangkou Reservoir: Impact from Dam

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Sep 28;19(19):12367. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191912367.

Abstract

Danjiangkou Reservoir is the water source of the mid-route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project. The source, distribution and potential risk of antimony in its water and sediments are rarely reported. In this study, symmetrical investigation results demonstrated that the concentration of antimony in the Han sub-reservoir and water in front of the dam fluctuated at about 0.9 mg L-1, while it was relatively higher and increased with the distance from the dam in Dan sub-reservoir water, with an annual average of 0.93~3.15 mg L-1. In recent years, the concentration of antimony in the Danjiangkou Reservoir showed a downward trend, and the difference between the Han and Dan sub-reservoirs decreased significantly. The antimony in the sediments in the reservoir was primarily derived from the inflowing rivers, and it was higher in the Dan sub-reservoir than in the Han sub-reservoir. The concentration of antimony in the water in the reservoir was considerably higher than the background value in the watersheds, indicating that there is an external input with decreasing input intensity. The content of antimony in the sediments in the reservoir and its inflow rivers was substantially higher than the background value of watersheds, indicating that there is a certain degree of enrichment. In addition, the antimony mining industry in the water source area poses a risk to the water safety of the reservoir. Antimony is not a conventional pollutant. Consequently, the collection of antimony monitoring results is a challenging task. Additionally, this study fills the gap in regional antimony research. Furthermore, the ecological risk assessment of antimony in China is still in its infancy. Unquestionably, the study of the temporal and spatial distribution of antimony concentration will be beneficial for the protection of water sources in relevant regions.

Keywords: Danjiangkou Reservoir; antimony; distribution; risk; source.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antimony*
  • China
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Geologic Sediments
  • Rivers
  • Water
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

  • Water Pollutants, Chemical
  • Water
  • Antimony

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Joint Fund of Water Science of the Yangtze River set up by National Natural Science Fund of China, Ministry of Water Resources of the People’s Republic of China and the China Three Gorges Corporation (Grant Number U2240213).