Occurrence and Source of Nitrosamines and Secondary Amines in Groundwater and its Adjacent Jialu River Basin, China

The presence of mutagenic and carcinogenic nitrosamines in groundwater is of great concern. In this study, eight nitrosamines including N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA), N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR), N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR), N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP), N-nitrosodi-n-propylamine (NDPA), and N-nitrosodi-n-butylamine (NDBA) and corresponding secondary amines were investigated in shallow groundwater, river water, and wastewater samples collected from the Jialu River basin. The total concentrations of nitrosamines and secondary amines in groundwater were ND–101.1 ng/L and 0.36–4.38 μg/L, respectively. NDMA and its secondary amine DMA (44.7%/40.1%) were the predominant compounds in groundwater, followed by NDEA/DEA (21.7%/29.3%) and NDBA/DBA (26.4%/27.4%). Relatively high concentrations of these six compounds were also observed in river water that was influenced by the direct discharge of industrial and domestic wastewater. Using acesulfame as a quantitative population marker, the contribution of domestic sources to the concentrations of nitrosamines and secondary amines was 39–85% in downstream reaches of the Jialu River, and that of industrial sources was estimated to be 65–98% in other sites of the area. Both on-site leakage of domestic and industrial wastewater and leaching from river water would contribute to the occurrence of target pollutants in groundwater. The target pollutants posed a cancer risk of 4.12 × 10–5 to the local populations due to the direct usage of groundwater as potable water.