Seasonal variation and ecological risk assessment of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in a typical semi-enclosed bay — The Bohai Bay in northern China

The Bohai Bay as a typical semi-enclosed bay in northern China with poor water exchange capacity and significant coastal urbanization, is greatly influenced by land-based inputs and human activities. As a class of pseudo-persistent organic pollutants, the spatial and temporal distribution of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) is particularly important to the ecological environment, and it will be imperfect to assess the ecological risk of PPCPs for the lack of systematic investigation of their distribution in different season. 14 typical PPCPs were selected to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution in the Bohai Bay by combining online solid-phase extraction (SPE) and HPLC-MS/MS techniques in this study, and their ecological risks to aquatic organisms were assessed by risk quotients (RQs) and concentration addition (CA) model. It was found that PPCPs widely presented in the Bohai Bay with significant differences of spatial and seasonal distribution. The concentrations of ∑PPCPs were higher in autumn than in summer. The distribution of individual pollutants also showed significant seasonal differences. The high values were mainly distributed in estuaries and near-shore outfalls. Mariculture activities in the northern part of the Bohai Bay made a greater contribution to the input of PPCPs. Caffeine, florfenicol, enrofloxacin and norfloxacin were the main pollutants in the Bohai Bay, with detection frequencies exceeding 80 %. The ecological risk of PPCPs to algae was significantly higher than that to invertebrates and fish. CA model indicated that the potential mixture risk of total PPCPs was not negligible, with 34 % and 88 % of stations having mixture risk in summer and autumn, respectively. The temporary stagnation of productive life caused by Covid-19 weakened the input of PPCPs to the Bohai Bay, reducing the cumulative effects of the pollutants. This study was the first full-coverage investigation of PPCPs in the Bohai Bay for different seasons, providing an important basis for the ecological risk assessment and pollution prevention of PPCPs in the bay. [Display omitted] •CAF was the most abundant compound, with a higher concentration in summer than that in autumn.•Most antibiotic drugs had higher concentrations in autumn than in summer.•Land-based and mariculture inputs were the main sources of PPCPs in the Bohai Bay.•The ecological risk of PPCPs to algae was higher than that to invertebrates and fish.•Covid-19 resulted in lower in