Importance and vulnerability of lakes and reservoirs supporting drinking water in China

Drinking water is closely related to human health,disease and mortality,and contaminated drinking water causes 485,000 deaths from diarrhea each year worldwide.China has been facing increasingly severe water scarcity due to both water shortages and poor water quality.Ensuring safe and clean drinking water is a great challenge and top priority,especially for China with 1.4 billion people.In China,more than 4000 centralized drinking water sources including rivers,lakes and reservoirs,and groundwater have been established to serve urban residents.However,there is little knowledge on the percentage,serving population and water quality of three centralized drinking water source types.We collected nationwide centralized drinking water sources data and serving population data covering 395 prefecture-level and county-level cities and water quality data in the two most populous provinces(Guangdong and Shandong)to examine their contribution and importance.Geographically,the drinking water source types can be classified into three clear regions exhibiting apparent differences in the respective contributions of rivers,lakes and reservoirs,and groundwater.We further found that overall,lakes and reservoirs account for 40.6%of the centralized drinking water sources vs.river(30.8%)and groundwater(28.6%)in China.Lakes and reservoirs are particularly important in the densely populated eastern region,where they are used as drinking water sources by 51.0%of the population(318 million).Moreover,the contribution to the drinking water supply from lakes and reservoirs is increasing due to their better water quality and many cross-regional water transfer projects.These results will be useful for the government to improve and optimize the establishment of centralized drinking water sources,which provide safe and clean drinking water in China to safeguard people's lives and health and realize sustainable development goals.

Environmental sustainability opportunity and socio-economic cost analyses of phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge

Although phosphorus(P)recovery and management from sewage sludge are practiced in North America and Europe,such practices are not yet to be implemented in China.Here,we evaluated the environmental sustainability opportunity and socio-economic costs of recovering P from sewage sludge by replacing the current-day treatments(CT;sludge treatment and landfill)and P chemical fertilizer application(CF)in China using life cycle assessment and life cycle costing methods.Three potential P recovery scenarios(PR1‒PR3:struvite,vivianite,and treated sludge)and corresponding current-day scenarios(CT1‒CT3 and CF)were considered.Results indicated that PR1 and PR2 have smaller environmental impacts than the current-day scenarios,whereas PR3 has larger impacts in most categories.PR3 has the lowest net costs(sum of internal costs and benefits,39.1-54.7 CNY per kg P),whereas PR2 has the lowest external costs(366.8 CNY per kg P).Societal costs for production and land use of 1 kg P by P recovery from sewage sludge(e.g.,∼527 CNY for PR1)are much higher than those of P chemical fertilizers(∼20 CNY for CF).However,considering the costs in the current-day treatments(e.g.,∼524 CNY for CT1),societal costs of P recovery scenarios are close to or slightly lower than those of current-day scenarios.Among the three P recovery scenarios,we found that recovering struvite as P fertilizer has the highest societal feasibility.This study will provide valuable information for improved sewage sludge management and will help promote the sustainable supply of P in China.

Characteristics of plankton Hg bioaccumulations based on a global data set and the implications for aquatic systems with aggravating nutrient imbalance

The bioaccumulation of mercury(Hg)in aquatic ecosystem poses a potential health risk to human being and aquatic organism.Bioaccumulations by plankton represent a crucial process of Hg transfer from water to aquatic food chain.However,the current understanding of major factors affecting Hg accumulation by plankton is inadequate.In this study,a data set of 89 aquatic ecosystems worldwide,including inland water,nearshore water and open sea,was established.Key factors influencing plankton Hg bioaccumulation(i.e.,plankton species,cell sizes and biomasses)were discussed.The results indicated that total Hg(THg)and methylmercury(MeHg)concentrations in plankton in inland waters were significantly higher than those in nearshore waters and open seas.Bioaccumulation factors for the logarithm of THg and MeHg of phytoplankton were 2.4–6.0 and 2.6–6.7 L/kg,respectively,in all aquatic ecosystems.They could be further biomagnified by a factor of 2.1–15.1 and 5.3–28.2 from phytoplankton to zooplankton.Higher MeHg concentrations were observed with the increases of cell size for both phyto-and zooplankton.A contrasting trend was observed between the plankton biomasses and BAF_(MeHg),with a positive relationship for zooplankton and a negative relationship for phytoplankton.Plankton physiologic traits impose constraints on the rates of nutrients and contaminants obtaining process from water.Nowadays,many aquatic ecosystems are facing rapid shifts in nutrient compositions.We suggested that these potential influences on the growth and composition of plankton should be incorporated in future aquatic Hg modeling and ecological risk assessments.

Unintended nutrient imbalance induced by wastewater effluent inputs to receiving water and its ecological consequences

Eutrophication is the most widespread water quality issue globally.To date,most efforts to control eutrophication have focused on reductions of external nutrient inputs,yet importance of nutrient stoichiometry and subsequent shift in plankton composition in aquatic ecosystem has been largely neglected.To address eutrophication,improved sanitation is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,spurring the constructions of wastewater treatment facilities that have improved water quality in many lakes and rivers.However,control measures are often targeted at and effective in removing a single nutrient from sewage and thus are less effective in removing the others,resulting in the changes of nutrient stoichiometry.In general,more effective phosphorus removal relative to nitrogen has occurred in wastewater treatment leading to substantial increases in N/P ratios in effluent relative to the influent.Unfortunately,high N/P ratios in receiving waters can impose negative influences on ecosystems.Thus,longterm strategies for domestic wastewater management should not merely focus on the total reduction of nutrient discharge but also consider their stoichiometric balances in receiving waters.