Contaminants of emerging concern in a large temperate estuary

Abstract

This study was designed to assess the occurrence and concentrations of a broad range of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from three local estuaries within a large estuarine ecosystem. In addition to effluent from two wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), we sampled water and whole-body juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Pacific staghorn sculpin (Leptocottus armatus) in estuaries receiving effluent. We analyzed these matrices for 150 compounds, which included pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PPCPs), and several industrial compounds. Collectively, we detected 81 analytes in effluent, 25 analytes in estuary water, and 42 analytes in fish tissue. A number of compounds, including sertraline, triclosan, estrone, fluoxetine, metformin, and nonylphenol were detected in water and tissue at concentrations that may cause adverse effects in fish. Interestingly, 29 CEC analytes were detected in effluent and fish tissue, but not in estuarine waters, indicating a high potential for bioaccumulation for these compounds. Although concentrations of most detected analytes were present at relatively low concentrations, our analysis revealed that overall CEC inputs to each estuary amount to several kilograms of these compounds per day. This study is unique because we report on CEC concentrations in estuarine waters and whole-body fish, which are both uncommon in the literature. A noteworthy and unexpected finding was the preferential bioaccumulation of CECs in free-ranging juvenile Chinook salmon relative to staghorn sculpin, a benthic species with relatively high site fidelity.

Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Municipal Wastewater and the Marine Receiving Environment Near Victoria Canada

“…Due to the lack of primary or secondary treatment, concentrations of PPCPs were generally higher than those observed in treated wastewater elsewhere (Weigel et al, 2004;Nakada et al, 2006;Vidal-Dorsch et al, 2012;Luo et al, 2014;Meador et al, 2016). This comes as little surprise as many PPCPs have been shown to be effectively reduced by wastewater treatment, either by absorption to sinking particles or biodegradation (Luo et al, 2014).…”

“…From this set of samples, only caffeine (up to 37.4 ng L −1 ), acetaminophen (up to 44.7 ng L −1 ), and dehydronifedipine (up to 1.53 ng L −1 ) were detected in at least one of the samples. Although somewhat high for natural marine waters, concentrations of this magnitude or even higher (in the case of Jamaica Bay, NY) have been observed in other areas heavily influenced by human activity and wastewater (Benotti and Brownawell, 2007;Klosterhaus et al, 2013;Arpin-Pont et al, 2016;Meador et al, 2016;Cantwell et al, 2017). …”

“…In 2014, only List 3 compounds (Table S3) were analyzed from samples collected at M0, AH2, AH1, FC1, and FC2. From this round of sampling, only triclosan and triclocarban were detected at M0; all other (Meador et al, 2016) and the mean from 50 large WWTPs in the USA (Kostich et al, 2014) are also presented. Bold values are higher than the other two studies; underlined compounds were also detected in mussel tissue surrounding CLO.…”

“…(Meador et al, 2016) and the mean from 50 large WWTPs in the USA (Kostich et al, 2014) The industrial chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) was present in MAC effluent at concentrations of up to 73,800 ng L −1 (Figure 2). Concentrations this high exceed known chronic toxicity thresholds for a wide array of aquatic taxa (Flint et al, 2012) and far exceed those observed in other municipal wastewater effluents (Nakada et al, 2006;Vidal-Dorsch et al, 2012;Luo et al, 2014;Meador et al, 2016) including those collected from CLO (Figure 3, Table 2). The presence of BPA in MAC effluent was, however, highly variable with about 25% of all wastewater samples taken at MAC having BPA concentrations below detection limits (approximately 1,100 ng L −1 ).…”

“…Correlations between PPCP concentration and collection day temperature were also assessed ( Figures S2, S4); significant (p-value < 0.05) positive correlations were observed at CLO for naproxen (p-value = 0.01), ibuprofen (p-value = 0.003), furosemide (p-value = 0.008) and 2-hydroxyibuprofen (p-value = 0.01). Wastewater sampling frequency, however, was probably insufficient to capture the full seasonal (Meador et al, 2016) and the mean from 50 large WWTPs in the USA (Kostich et al, 2014) are also presented. Bold values are higher than the other two studies; underlined compounds were also detected in sediments surrounding MAC.…”