The adsorption of phosphorus (P) on four sediment samples (CunTan, XiaoJiang, DaNing and XiangXi) from the Three-Gorges Reservoir on the Yangtze River in Chinawas studied systematically in batch experiments. A sequential chemical extraction experiment was conducted to clarify the effect of sediment composition on P adsorption. The results showed that P adsorption on four sediment samples mainly occurred within 6h. P adsorption kinetics can be satisfactorily fitted by both power function and simple Elovich model. A modified Langmuir model may describe well the P adsorption on all the samples in our study. Theoretically, the maximum adsorption amount (Qmax) was 0.402mg-P/g for XiaoJiang sediment, 0.358mg-P/g for DaNing sediment, 0.165mg-P/g for CunTan sediment, and 0.15 mg-P/g for XiangXi sediment. The sediment compositions such as organic matter, metal hydroxides, calcium and clay content showed influences on the P adsorption. Wherein, organic matter and metal hydroxideswere the main factors affecting the P adsorption. The maximum P adsorption capacity (Qmax) enhanced with the increase of the content of (Fe+Al+Ca). Compared the zero-equilibrium P concentration (EPC0) values obtained by the modified Langmuir models with actual P concentrations in water, all the sediments studied in this paper except for XiaoJiang showed a trend of releasing P as a source role, which could enhance the risk of eutrophication occurrence in the Three-Gorges Reservoir.

The generation and formation of non-point source pollution involves great uncertainty, and this uncertainty makes monitoring and controlling pollution very difficult. Understanding the main parameters that affect non-point source pollution uncertainty is necessary to provide the basis for the planning and design of control measures. In this study, three methods were adopted to do the parameter uncertainty analysis with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Based on the results of parameter sensitivity analysis by the Morris screening method, the ten parameters that most affect runoff, sediment, organic N, nitrate, and total phosphorous (TP) were chosen for further uncertainty analysis. First-order error analysis (FOEA) and the Monte Carlo method (MC) were used to analyze the effect of parameter uncertainty on model outputs. FOEA results showed that only a few parameters had significantly affected the uncertainty of the final simulation results, and many parameters had little or no effect. The SCS curve number was the parameter with significant uncertainty impact on runoff, sediment, organic N, nitrate and TP, and it showed that the runoff process was mainly responsible for the uncertainty of non-point source pollution load. The uncertainty of sediment was the biggest among the five model output results described above. MC results indicated that neglecting the parameter uncertainty of the model would underestimate the non-point source pollution load, and that the relationship between model input and output was non-linear. The uncertainty of non-point source pollution exhibited a temporal pattern: It was greater in summer than in winter. The uncertainty of runoff was smaller compared to that of sediment, organic N, nitrate, and TP, and the source of uncertainty was mainly affected by parameters associated with runoff.

Twenty-seven surface sediment samples were collected from the mainstream and eight tributaries of the Wuhan reach of the Yangtze River, China, in 2005, in order to assess the distribution, possible sources, and potential risk of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the environment. The total concentrations of PCBs (the sum of 39 congeners) ranged from 1.2 to 45.1ng/g-1 dry weight, with a mean value of 9.2ng/g-1. Sediment samples with the highest PCB concentrations came from the tributary sites, which are closer to PCB sources. Conversely, PCB concentrations in the sediment from the mainstream sites of Yangtze River were relatively low. The observed PCB levels were higher than those found in the sediments of other rivers in China, but lower than those in river sediments from other urban areas and harbors around the world. Low-chlorinated PCBs, dominated by tetra-PCBs and penta-PCBs, were identified as being prevalent in the surface sediments. Correlation analyses between the PCBs and the geochemistry and heavy metal content of the sediments suggest that the washing of these compounds from the land into the river by floods and heavy rains, or industrial wastewater and domestic sewage, may be the major sources of the PCBs. According to established sediment quality guidelines, the risk of adverse biological effects from the levels of PCBs recorded at most of the studied sites should be insignificant, although the higher concentrations at other sites could cause acute biological damage.