A preliminary survey of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupting compounds in treated municipal wastewaters and receiving rivers of Alberta /

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other known or suspected endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) have been widely detected in various waters throughout the world. Prior to this study, however, sampling for these substances was rather limited within Alberta. In 2002 and 2003, due to concerns about potential impacts on humans, livestock, aquatic organisms, and wildlife, Alberta Environment collected wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents and receiving river water from numerous locations throughout the Province and analysed them for a broad range of organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs). This initial survey, encompassing an assortment of pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, steroids, surfactants, and plasticizers, was designed to determine which compounds are released by WWTPs in Alberta and to assess their presence in receiving river waters. Results of this study indicate that many of the 1 05 compounds and isomer mixtures that were tested for occur with some regularity in Alberta WWTP effluents and can be detected in the associated receiving rivers. In the majority of cases, concentrations of target analytes in receiving waters at well-mixed downstream sites were either below detection or several orders of magnitude lower than the same compounds in corresponding WWTP effluents. Certain groups of pharmaceuticals, namely the quinolone and tetracycline antibiotics, were virtually absent in surface waters, while others, including acidic pharmaceuticals, neutral pharmaceuticals, and sulfonamide antibiotics, were markedly lower in rivers than they were in effluents. Similarly, those EDCs that occurred at measurable concentrations in effluents were typically much reduced or below detection in downstream river water. All of the phthalate esters, one of nine monophthalate esters, and all nonylphenol ethoxylates analysed were found in effluents and, albeit at greatly reduced levels, in receiving waters. At present, surface water guidelines have not yet been established for the vast majority of compounds examined during this study. Nonetheless, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment nonylphenol guideline for the protection of aquatic life (1.0 pg/L) was exceeded by 0.4 pg/L in the Oldman River. However, since toxic equivalents for each river were calculated based on data from a single sample collected at a single point in time, they should be viewed with caution. A need for additional monitoring of OWCs in Alberta's surface waters is indicated.

Low-dose exposure to bisphenol A and replacement bisphenol S induces precocious hypothalamic neurogenesis in embryonic zebrafish

“…Our study shows that low-dose BPA and BPS exposure has physiological effects. We purposefully chose the 0.0068-μM dose because this is the exact concentration of BPA measured in the Oldman River, a major Albertan waterway that serves as a life source to two major urban centers (34). For comparison, waterborne exposure of 1 μM (12 μg/kg) BPA is comparable to the BPA concentration normally found in human placental tissue (12.7 μg/kg) (32, 62); thus the 0.0068-μM doses used herein are magnitudes lower than levels found in human placenta and 100-fold lower than circulating levels measured in fetal serum (0.0101 μM) (62).…”

Presence of natural and anthropogenic organic contaminants and potential fish health impacts along two river gradients in Alberta, Canada

“…Other researchers have previously detected estrone and estriol in Red Deer's wastewater effluent (9.93 and 2.19 ng/L, respectively), but not in river water samples collected downstream of Red Deer [14]. Natural or synthetic estrogens were detected at every Table 1.…”

“…1). The water was analyzed for 28 organic contaminants that may have hormonal activity but also commonly occur in wastewater effluents or rivers impacted by human activity [1,14]. The contaminant concentration snapshot was used to determine the types and range of contaminants that may be present in these rivers throughout the year.…”

A Scoping Study of Livestock Antimicrobials in Agricultural Streams of Alberta

“…Many international (e.g., Focazio et al 2008, Heberer 2002, Kolpin et al 2002, and national (Yargeau et al 2007, Lissemore et al 2006Sosiak and Hebben 2005) studies have conducted surveys on the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment. These studies have predominantly focused on pharmaceutical compounds used in human medicine and the resulting residues found in discharge waters of urban sewage treatment plants.…”