Identification of high-concern organic pollutants in tap waters from the Yangtze River in China based on combined screening strategies.

Recently, numerous organic pollutants have been detected in water environment. The safety of our drinking water has attracted widespread attention. Effective methods to screen and identify high-concern substances are urgently needed. In this study, the combined workflow for the detection and identification of high-concern organic chemicals was established and applied to tap water samples from the Yangtze River Basin. The solid phase extraction (SPE) sorbents were compared and evaluated and finally the HLB cartridge was selected as the best one for most of the contaminants. Based on target, suspect and non-target analysis, 3023 chemicals/peaks were detected. Thirteen substances such as diundecyl phthalate (DUP), 2-hydroxyatrazine, dioxoaminopyrine and diethyl-2-phenylacetamide were detected in drinking water in the Yangtze River Basin for the very first time. Based on three kinds of prioritization principles, 49 ubiquitous, 103 characteristic chemicals and 13 inefficiently removed chemicals were selected as high-concern substances. Among them, 8, 31, 9, 3, 4 substances overlapped with the toxic, risky or high-concern chemicals lists in China, America, European Union, Japan, Korea, respectively. Specific management and removal strategies were further recommended. The workflow is efficient for identification of key pollutants.