Aquatic Biological Criteria and Ecological Risk Assessment of Fluoride in Surface Water

The toxic effects of fluorides on aquatic organisms have raised widespread concerns on their pollution in water bodies. This study derived water quality criteria for fluorides by collecting acute and chronic toxicity data globally and conducted an ecological risk assessment of fluoride concentrations in China's surface water: the acute toxicity data covered 34 species across 14 families and 4 phyla, while the chronic toxicity data covered 7 species across 5 families and 3 phyla; Using the species sensitivity distribution (SSD), the water quality criteria SWQC and LWQC were determined to be 17.47 mg/L and 3.334 mg/L, respectively; An ecological risk assessment of fluoride concentrations in China's surface water was conducted using the risk quotient (RQ), identifying the Shahe River, Xihe River, Ebinur Lake, and Chagan Lake as high risk areas among 32 river and lake basins. Among 21 provincial-level administrative regions, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was assessed as no risk, while the remaining river and lake basins and administrative regions were classified as moderate risk or low risk. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for subsequent research and detailed optimization in related fields.