Chemical and Biological Analysis of Endocrine Disrupting Hormones and Estrogenic Activity in an Advanced Sewage Treatment Plant

Abstract

The steroid hormones estrone (E(1)), 17beta-estradiol (E(2)), estriol (E(3)), 17alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE(2)), and their conjugated forms were surveyed throughout an advanced sewage treatment plant (STP). The estrogen concentrations in water and sludge samples, collected in October 2004 and April 2005, were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Simultaneously, the estrogenic activity was quantified using estrogen-responsive reporter cell lines (MELN) to investigate the behavior of overall estrogenic compounds. The estrogen concentrations in the inlet ranged from 200 to 500 ng/L, with the contribution of conjugated forms being higher than 50%. The major estrogens in influent were E(1) and E(3). The estrogenic activity was between 25 and 130 ng/L of E(2) equivalents (EEQs). Estrogen concentrations and estrogenicity measured in the inlet and in primary treated sewage were similar, showing a weak impact of primary treatment on hormone removal. In contrast, both estrogen concentration and estrogenicity decreased during biological treatment, with high removal efficiencies (>90%). Estrone, E(2), and EE(2) persisted in the treated water below 10 ng/L, whereas the estrogenicity was lower than 5 ng/L of EEQs. Estrogen mass flux in the effluent and sludge represented less than 2 and 4%, respectively, of the inlet. Consequently, the fraction of estrogens sorbed into the sludge was very small, and biodegradation was the main vehicle for estrogen elimination. This dual approach, comparing chemical and biological analysis, allowed us to confirm that most of the estrogenic activity occurring in this STP, which receives mainly domestic sewage, resulted from sex hormones.

Disruption of adult expression of sexually selected traits by developmental exposure to bisphenol A

“…Control and BPAexposed females exhibited longer duration of nose-to-nose contact (mean ± SEM) with control males than with BPA-exposed males. *P < 0.05. of species (39,(50)(51)(52), masculinized their spatial abilities and exploratory behaviors and led to a phenotype more similar to that of control males than control females. Laboratory mice (Mus musculus domesticus) and rats (Rattus norvegicus) exposed during prenatal through postnatal development to EE similarly demonstrate increased male-like patterns of behavior, and as in deer mice, a similar regimen of BPA exposure did not induce comparable responses (53,54).…”

Sludge Retention Time as a Suitable Operational Parameter to Remove Both Estrogen and Nutrients in an Anaerobic–Anoxic–Aerobic Activated Sludge System

“…Field surveys in full-scale WWTPs have indicated that plants with a high SRT generally showed high and stable removal of both estrogens and estrogenic activity (Hashimoto et al, 2007;Muller et al, 2008). With regard to natural estrogens, Clara et al (2005) have observed a strong correlation between achievable effluent concentrations and SRT.…”

Endocrine potency of wastewater: Contents of endocrine disrupting chemicals and effects measured by in vivo and in vitro assays

“…The ability of chemical substances found in wastewater to interact with the estrogen receptor (ER) has been recognized for several years [1,[6][7][8]. In these reports, the estrogenic activity of municipal STP effluents varied from 0.4 to 2.4 ng/L 17b-estradiol (E2) equivalents in different assays [1,8].…”