Occurrence and ecological risk assessment of 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether and decabromodiphenyl ether in surface waters across China.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are efficient brominated flame retardants and are released into various environmental media via usage, recycling and disposal. This study investigated the concentrations and ecological risks of two typical PBDEs, 2,2',4,4'-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) and decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209), in surface waters across China from 2011 to 2018. The results showed that the concentration of BDE-209 (8.25 ng L) was higher than that of BDE-47 (1.02 ng L), and the concentrations of BDE-47 and BDE-209 in the lakes (2.56 ng L and 22.19 ng L, respectively) were higher than those in the rivers (0.58 ng L and 7.05 ng L, respectively). In addition, the concentration of BDE-209 in the wet season (2.61 ng L) was lower than that in the dry season (10.83 ng L), whereas the concentration of BDE-47 in the wet season (0.24 ng L) was a little lower than that in the dry season (0.99 ng L). BDE-47 and BDE-209 concentrations showed a gradual decrease in surface waters across China during the eight-year period. Based on the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) models, the 5% hazardous concentration (HC) and predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) values were derived using the acute and chronic toxicity data of BDE-47 and BDE-209. Results showed that the PNEC values based on the acute and chronic toxicity data were 2.08 μg L and 0.52 μg L for BDE-47, respectively and 370 μg L and 0.34 μg L for BDE-209, respectively. The risk quotient (RQ) values of BDE-47 in surface waters across China were far smaller than 0.1 (low ecological risk). Similarly, the RQ values of BDE-209 were also smaller than 0.1, except for those at Baiyangdian Lake and Chaohu Lake, where the probability of 0.1 ≤ RQ < 1.0 (medium ecological risk) was approximately 10% based on 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations.