1. Longitudinal mass loads of phthalate esters in sewage sludge and their association with public health and social measures for COVID-19 control in Beijing.
- Author
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Sapkota S, Thapa B, Chen J, Zunong J, Asihaer Y, Li M, Ji X, Ding D, Li H, Ma B, Vermund SH, Shu M, and Hu Y
- Subjects
- Beijing, Humans, Environmental Monitoring methods, Water Pollutants, Chemical analysis, Public Health, SARS-CoV-2, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Sewage chemistry, COVID-19 epidemiology, Phthalic Acids analysis, Esters analysis
- Abstract
This study examines the concentrations and population-normalized mass loads (PNML) of five phthalate esters (PAEs) and four metabolites (mPAEs) in 390 sewage sludge samples collected from two municipal wastewater treatment plants in Beijing between July 2020 and June 2023, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Through GC/MS analysis, the compounds were simultaneously quantified, with peak concentrations in 2020. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and mono(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate emerged as predominant PAE and mPAE congeners with concentrations of 78.7 µg/g dw and 259 µg/g dw, respectively. DEHP and monobenzyl phthalate had the highest median PNML among PAEs and mPAEs, respectively, at 128 µg/inhabitant/day and 798 µg/inhabitant/day. Linear regression models revealed a positive association between PNML of PAEs and five public health and social measures aimed at mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. This research contributes to the expanding body of literature by emphasizing the role of wastewater-based epidemiology as a vital tool for monitoring community-level exposure to environmental contaminants., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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