Ecological risk assessment of nitrobenzene in main rivers of China

An ecological risk assessment(ERA) of nitrobenzene exposed to aquatic ecosystem was conducted by quotient method and a probabilistic approach based on the observed nitrobenzene concentrations in different rivers in China.The aquatic toxicity data of nitrobenzene were acquired from USEPA AQUIRE database.The results showed that the potential ecological risk of nitrobenzene in main rivers of China is quite low: hazard quotients(HQ) are all much less than unity;while the probabilities at 1% and 5% of the affected aquatic organisms in the worst case are 1.49% and 0.22%,respectively.However,at the maximum allowable concentrations of nitrobenzene by the national wastewater discharge standard class I,II and III,35.57%,48.38% and 64.59% of the aquatic organisms could be adversely affected,respectively.