TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kandie, Faith Jebiwot
A1  - Krauss, Martin
A1  - Massei, Riccardo
A1  - Ganatra, Akbar
A1  - Fillinger, Ulrike
A1  - Becker, Jeremias
A1  - Liess, Matthias
A1  - Torto, Baldwyn
A1  - Brack, Werner
T1  - Multi-compartment chemical characterization and risk assessment of chemicals of emerging concern in freshwater systems of western Kenya
T2  - Environmental sciences Europe
N2  - Background: Within the last decades, there has been increasing research on the occurrence of chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) in aquatic ecosystems due to their potential adverse effects on freshwater organisms and risk to human health. However, information on CECs in freshwater environments in sub-Saharan countries is very limited. Here, we investigated the occurrence of CECs in snails and sediments collected from 48 sites within the Lake Victoria South Basin, Kenya, which have been previously investigated for water contamination. Samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) with a target list of 429 compounds.
Results: In total, 30 compounds have been detected in snails and 78 in sediment samples, compared to 79 previously identified compounds in water. By extending the monitoring of CECs to snails and sediments, we found 68 compounds that were not previously detected in water. These compounds include the anti-cancer drug anastrozole, detected for the first time in the Kenyan environment. Individual compound concentrations were detected up to 480 ng/g wet weight (N-ethyl-o-toluenesulfonamide) in snails and 110 ng/g organic carbon (pirimiphos-methyl) in sediments. Higher contaminant concentrations were found in agricultural sites than in areas not impacted by anthropogenic activities. Crustaceans were the organisms at greatest toxic risk from sediment contamination [toxic unit (TU) up to 0.99] with diazinon and pirimiphos-methyl driving this risk. Acute and chronic risks to algae were driven by diuron (TU up to 0.24), whereas fish were found to be at low-to-no acute risk (TU up to 0.007).
Conclusions: The compound classes present at the highest frequencies in all matrices were pesticides and biocides. This study shows substantial contamination of surface water in rural western Kenya. By filling data gaps on contamination of sediments and aquatic biota, our study reveals that CECs pose a substantial risk to environmental health in Kenya demanding for monitoring and mitigation.
KW  - Biota
KW  - Chemicals of emerging concern
KW  - Surface water
KW  - Sediment
KW  - Toxic units
KW  - Risk assessment
KW  - Occurrence
KW  - Western Kenya
Y1  - 2020
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/57170
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-571709
SN  - 2190-4715
VL  - 32
IS  - Article number: 115
PB  - Berlin ; Heidelberg
CY  - Springer
ER  -