Fate and Spatial–Temporal Variation of 23 Elements at 7 Wastewater Treatment Plants in Southeast City of China

Rapid urbanization has caused an increase in the discharge of inorganic elements into environment; however, knowledge about fate and annual variations multiple wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is limited. To understand distribution change those elements, we collected analyzed sludge samples from seven WWTPs a southeast city China. Results revealed elemental concentration ranging 0.06 μg·L−1 (Tl) to 221.90 (Mn) influent, below detection limit (Er), 206.40 effluent, 0.58 mg·kg−1 309.30 (Zn) sludge. The removal analysis that rare earth (REEs) were removed well with efficiencies 88.03% (Tm) 97.37% (Sm), while heavy metals poor, 10.71% 89.17% (Pb). flux highlighted activated served as major temporary storage site for 23 excess acted sink REEs. Significant spatial detected among different WWTPs. On contrary, temporal insignificant based on monitoring data 2010 2020, indicating satisfactory implementation current environmental regulations.