An Assessment of Endocrine Disrupting Activity Changes during Wastewater Treatment through the Use of Bioassays and Chemical Measurements

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the removal efficiencies of secondary wastewater treatment processes for compounds causing endocrine disrupting activity. The study used bioassays and chemical measurements, such as gas chromatography with mass spectrometry and enzyme immunosorbent assays. A total of seven full‐scale water reclamation facilities using different unit operations and two pilot‐scale membrane bioreactors were examined. Findings of this study imply that estrogenic disrupting activity in primary effluent is mainly caused by two steroidal hormones (17β‐estradiol and estriol) and, to a lesser extent, by synthetic chemicals, such as bisphenol A, 4‐nonylphenol, and 4‐tert‐octylphenol. During secondary treatment, steroidal hormones were removed to a higher degree than nonylphenol and bisphenol A. The total estrogenic activity was removed by an average of 96%. The remaining concentrations of targeted steroids in secondary effluents, except for estriol, still had the potential to elicit a positive response in the human breast cell cancer assay. For the majority of facilities, the remaining activity was likely attributed to residual concentrations of two steroidal hormones (17β‐estradiol and estriol).

Ozone Oxidation of Endocrine Disruptors and Pharmaceuticals in Surface Water and Wastewater

“…The ability of cellular bioassays in the screening of wastewater effluents has been shown previously (Zacharewski, 1997;Desbrow et al, 1998;Onda et al, 2002;Drewes et al, 2005). Water samples (1-L) were extracted similarly to samples for instrumental analyses, except surrogate compounds were not added.…”

“…Water samples (1-L) were extracted similarly to samples for instrumental analyses, except surrogate compounds were not added. The cellular bioassay method employed measures cell proliferation and has been described in detail previously (Drewes et al, 2005). Bioassay data are reported as estradiol equivalents (EEq's).…”

Effect of the injection of pure oxygen into a membrane bioreactor on the elimination of bisphenol A

“…Wastewater containing BPA is a source of contamination of the aquatic environment (Kang et al 2006), and low concentrations of BPA are able to cause effects if the exposure is continuous. BPA is not completely removed by currently available wastewater treatments, consequently it remains in effluents, at concentrations ranging from very low levels-ng L -1 (Drewes et al 2005;Lagana et al 2004)-to high levels-mg L -1 (Clara et al 2005;Vethaak et al 2005)-including extremely high levels in WWTP effluents from factoriesmg L -1 (Mohapatra et al 2010). The discharge from such effluents is the main responsible for the wide distribution and occurrence of BPA in surface waters, from 0.5 ng L -1 (Kuch and Ballschmiter 2001) to 1 mg L -1 (Vethaak et al 2005); ground waters, up to 0.93 mg L -1 (Hohenblum et al 2004); and even in drinking waters, up to 5 ng L -1 (Rodríguez-Mozaz et al 2004).…”

Amphibian intersex in suburban landscapes

“…This work has revealed that estrogenic compounds are present and sufficiently concentrated in surface waters subject to inflows of treated wastewater (Spengler et al 2001, Drewes et al 2005 to promote intersex (e.g., Blazer et al 2007, Kidd et al 2007, Watanabe et al 2009). Correspondingly, numerous studies have shown that the frequency of abnormal sexual development, including intersex traits, is strongly elevated at riverine sites downstream of wastewater treatment outfalls (e.g., Vajda et al 2008) to the degree that the abnormalities have been quantitatively associated with upstream human population density (DesForges et al 2010).…”