Table Of ContentEstuaries of the World
Wen-Xiong Wang
Philip S. Rainbow
Environmental
Pollution
of the Pearl River
Estuary, China
Status and Impact of Contaminants in a Rapidly
Developing Region
Estuaries of the World
SeriesEditor
Jean-PaulDucrotoy,TheUniversityofHull,Hull,UnitedKingdom
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/11705
(cid:129)
Wen-Xiong Wang Philip S. Rainbow
Environmental Pollution of
the Pearl River Estuary, China
Status and Impact of Contaminants
in a Rapidly Developing Region
Wen-XiongWang PhilipS.Rainbow
SchoolofEnergyandEnvironment NaturalHistoryMuseum
CityUniversityofHongKong London,UK
Kowloon,HongKong
ISSN2214-1553 ISSN2214-1561 (electronic)
EstuariesoftheWorld
ISBN978-3-662-61832-5 ISBN978-3-662-61834-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-61834-9
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Preface
ThePearlRiverEstuary(PRE)istheWesternnameoftheverylargeestuaryinsouthernChina
thattodayisthelocationofanindustrialmetropolisofstaggeringsizeandrateofdevelopment.
TheChinesenameofthePearlRiverisZhujiang.Guangzhouliesattheheadoftheestuary,and
MacaoandHongKongareonthewesternandeasternsides,respectively,ofthewideopening
oftheestuarytotheSouthChinaSea.ThenewcitiesofZhuhaiandShenzhenlieimmediately
northofMacaoandHongKong,respectively.
ThePearlRiverisnotanewareaofinteresttoWesternersforitfeaturedprominentlyinthe
trading and thereby political relations between China and the Westerners of the UK in the
nineteenth century. The British knew Guangzhou as Canton, an important entry route for
foreign trading goods into China. A major such trading item was opium, a commodity that
was to play a significant role in the outbreak of the so-called opium war that led to the
establishment of Hong Kong, initially as a British colony but eventually more than a century
laterasaSpecialAdministrativeRegionofthePeople’sRepublicofChina.Macaohasthesame
designationtoday.
OurinterestinthePearlRiverEstuaryinthetwenty-firstcenturyarisesfromthesimplyvast
numbers of people living on its banks and the associated industries providing livelihoods for
thesecoastalinhabitants.Therearevaryingestimatesofthenumberofpeoplelivingcloseby
thePearlRiverEstuary,andthesenumbersareincreasingyearbyyear.ThecityofGuangzhou
hasabout15millioninhabitants,whileShenzhenmaybehometoabout25millionandZhuhai
to1.8million.HongKonghas7.5millionandMacaomorethan670,000inhabitants,reputedly
atthehighestpopulationdensityintheworld.Thetotalpopulationofthemegacitysurrounding
thePearlRiverEstuaryprobablyexceeds70million.
AndthewastesfromthesecitiesandindustriesultimatelyflowintothePearlRiverEstuary.
What are the major environmental concerns and contaminants of this estuary? Where are the
sources for these contaminants? What have been the environmental consequences of the
emission of such inevitably contaminated effluents into the estuary? What will the future
bring?Thesearethequestionsaddressedinthisbook.Contaminantsandotherpollutantswill
include toxic metals, organic compounds in the form, for example, of hydrocarbons and
organochlorinepesticides,aswellasthecomponentsofsewagewhetherofhumanordomestic
animalorigin.
ThesheermagnitudeofthefluxesofcontaminantsintothePearlRiverEstuaryissignificant
enough in itself, but the Pearl River Estuary also offers us a model for major contaminated
estuaries around the world. Contaminant research has been carried out in the Pearl estuarine
ecosystemfordecadesnow,andthesedatatellatalerelevantbeyondsouthernChinaandthe
Far East. The Pearl River Estuary is well known to the authors who have themselves
contributed to the literature summarized here. The future environmental health of the Pearl
River Estuary is vital to the economic future of millions of people dependent to different
degrees on this remarkable ecosystem. Furthermore, the cultural heritage that the Pearl River
Estuarybringstothepeoplelivingnearbyisdearlytreasured.
Just a year ago, on February 18, 2019, the Central Chinese Government announced the
establishmentoftheGreaterBayArea(GBA),whichbasicallycoversthemajorityofthePearl
v
vi Preface
RiverDeltaareawithatotalpopulationofover70million.TheBayAreaisconsideredtobethe
fourthmegabayintheworld(afterNewYorkBay,SanFranciscoBay,andTokyoBay).Under
the concept and mandate of the GBA development, the environment will be under strict
scrutiny. ThePearlRiver Estuarywillbeoneofthehighlights inenvironmentalmanagement
andprotectiongivenitscentralpositionintheentirePearlRiverDeltaregion.ThePREsystem
will itself be a model environmental system for environmental scientists owing to its major
anthropogenicperturbationandinfluencesaswellastheverydynamicnatureoftheestuary.We
believethatmanymoreenvironmentalstudieswillfollowinthenearfutureonthisfascinating
andculture-richestuary.
This book is a real long-term collaboration between the two authors. PSR was a frequent
visitor to the laboratory of W-XW in Hong Kong when the former was the Head of the
Department of Zoology at the Natural History Museum, London. We still vividly remember
whenwejumpedintotheHKUSTlibraryoneafternoonnearly15yearsagotodigoutamapof
thePearlRiverEstuary,whilewewerediscussingthebiomonitoringoftheestuary.Sincethen,
the local research environment has improved in a rather dramatic way. It is now possible to
workdirectlyonthisfascinatingestuaryfromtheHongKongend.Mostofthedatapresentedin
thisbookarethusresultsproducedfromtheauthors’ownlaboratoriesoverthepastdecade.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the numerous former and current postdoctoral researchers, visiting
scholars,andpostgraduatestudentswhohavecontributed,onewayoranother,tothisbook.We
thank the funding agencies (National Science Foundation of China, Hong Kong Research
Grants Council, Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission, and TUYF
TrustFund)fortheirfinancialsupportofourresearchactivityoverthepastmanyyears.
vii
Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
HongKong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Macao. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
UrbanizationandIndustrialDevelopment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Pollution. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . 3
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
PhysicalGeography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
WaterFlowsandCirculation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Tide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
BottomTopographyandSediment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
EcosystemandFisheries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
WaterQualityMonitoring. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
PollutioninthePearlRiverEstuary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Eutrophication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
TraceMetals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
OrganicCompounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Hydrocarbons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
HalogenatedOrganicCompounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
OrganochlorinePesticides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
PolychlorinatedBiphenyls(PCBs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
PolybrominatedDiphenylEthers(PBDEs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
AlternativeHalogenatedFlameRetardants(AHFRs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
OrganophosphorusCompounds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
OrganophosphateFlameRetardants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
OrganophosphorusPesticides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Xenoestrogens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Pharmaceuticals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
PersonalCareProducts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
OtherEmergingContaminants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
OtherPesticides. . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. . . 31
PerfluoroalkylSubstances(PFASs). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
QuaternaryAmmoniumCompounds(QACs). .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . . . .. . 31
Microplastics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
ix
x Contents
TraceMetalsintheWaterColumnandSediments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
TraceMetalsintheWaterColumn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
TraceMetalConcentrationsintheWaterColumnofthePearlRiverEstuary. . . . . . 38
GeochemistryofTraceMetalsintheWaterColumnofthePearlRiverEstuary. . . . 40
EcotoxicologyofTraceMetalsintheWaterColumnofthePearlRiverEstuary. . . . 43
TraceMetalsinSediments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
TraceMetalConcentrationsinSediments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
BioavailabilityandEcotoxicologyofTraceMetalsinSediments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
TraceMetalConcentrationsintheSedimentsofthePearlRiverEstuary. . . . . . . . . 47
HistoricalChanges. . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . 47
EcotoxicologyofTraceMetalsintheSedimentsofthePearlRiverEstuary. . . . . . . 51
ExchangeabilityandBioavailability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
TraceMetalsinPearlRiverEstuaryOrganisms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Bioaccumulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Uptake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Bioavailability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
UptakeofTraceMetalsfromSediments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Accumulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Biomonitoring. . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. . . 64
PearlRiverEstuaryInvertebrates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Oysters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Mussels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Clams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Scallops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
ImportanceofBivalveFamily. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Barnacles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Fish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Mercury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
FoodChains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Cetaceans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
TraceMetalContaminationofSeafoodfromthePearlRiverEstuary. . . . . . . . . . 93
RegulatoryLimits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Molluscs. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . . 95
Oysters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Mussels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Clams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Scallops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Gastropods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Crustaceans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Prawns,MantisShrimpsandCrabs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Fish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
TraceMetalsandEcotoxicologicalEffectsinthePearlRiverEstuary. . . . . . . . . . 107
Biomarkers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
PearlRiverEstuaryOysters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
