Polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in water canals and their relationships with water quality parameters: Insights into their risk assessment

Abstract

Water pollution with pesticides is one of the most important environmental problems. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) reach water bodies via agricultural discharge. The aim of this study was to determine the contamination of different water bodies with PCB congeners, and detect the correlation between water quality parameters and seasonal distribution of these PCBs. The results indicated that water canals of AlGharbiah showed the highest ranges of temperature, total dissolved solids (TDS) in spring, and dissolved oxygen (DO) in autumn, while AlQaliobiah water bodies witnessed the highest pH and electrical conductivity (EC) ranges in summer. The highest range of a PCB congener was that of PCB44 (7.96–118.29 µg/g) in sediment samples of Giza, followed by its range (18.01–85.44 µgL⁻¹) in surface water of AlQaliobiah. We found a potential cancer risk from dermal contact with all the investigated PCBs. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed positive correlations between most PCBs and each of EC and TDS, and a negative correlation with DO. While the correlation between PCBs and each of temperature and pH varied according to the geographic location of the governorate. In conclusion, the investigated water canals were contaminated with PCBs, which posed a potential cancer risk and deteriorated water quality.

Keywords:

• Cancer risk
• GIS
• PCBs
• water pollution
• temperature

Disclosure statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

All data mentioned in this manuscript are available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Grant No. 102C from Theodor Bilharz Research Institute, Egypt.