Socioeconomic Drivers of Whole Water Toxicity in Chinese Wastewater Influents

Although whole water toxicity (WWT) is increasingly recognized as a vital supplement to existing wastewater discharge standards, its practical application is constrained by a lack of high-throughput screening methods and comprehensive baseline data necessary for effective policymaking. To address this gap, we developed a model-driven, high-throughput WWT assay by leveraging Cell Painting technology as a rapid complement to ISO 21115:2019 and conducted a nationwide investigation into influent WWT. Our analysis revealed that four key socioeconomic drivers account for 38.8% of the cumulative absolute effect size on influent WWT, with high toxicity levels in highly economically developed urban areas. Based on the collected baseline data, we categorized China’s major provinces into four distinct risk zones and generated a toxicity map to provide empirical evidence for policy formulation. This study identifies the primary socioeconomic drivers of influent WWT and proposes a dual-scale management strategy comprising tiered provincial controls and city-level refinement based on spatial toxicity mapping.