Emission Estimation and Multimedia Fate Modeling of Seven Steroids at the River Basin Scale in China

Abstract

Steroids are excreted from humans and animals and discharged with wastewaters into the environment, resulting in potential adverse effects on organisms. Based on the excretion rates from different groups of humans and animals, the emissions of seven steroids (estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), testosterone (T), androsterone (A), progesterone (P), and cortisol (C)) were comprehensively estimated in 58 river basins of whole China, and their multimedia fate was simulated by using a level III fugacity multimedia model. The results showed that higher emission densities for the steroids were found in the river basins of east China than in west China. This distribution was found to be generally similar to the distribution of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) across China. E3, A, and P displayed higher emission densities than the other steroids in most of the river basins. The total excretion of steroids by humans and animals in China was estimated to be 3069 t/yr. The excretion of steroids from animals was two times larger than that from humans. After various treatments, the total emission of steroids was reduced to 2486 t/yr, of which more than 80% was discharged into the water compartment. The predicted concentrations in water were within an order of magnitude of the measured concentrations available in the literature. Owing to wastewater irrigation, more steroid mass loadings in agricultural soil were found in the basins of Haihe River and Huaihe River in comparison with the other river basins. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the emissions and multimedia fate of seven steroids in the river basins of China.

Progestins as endocrine disrupters in aquatic ecosystems: Concentrations, effects and risk assessment

“…trenbolone) and androgenic progestins are applied as growth promoters. The amount of steroids excreted from humans and animals and discharged with wastewater into the environment has been estimated in China (Zhang et al, 2014). China has the largest population of humans and livestock animals worldwide and the wastewater treatment rate is low.…”

“…To date, the fate of progestins in wastewater treatment as well as surface water is poorly known. Zhang et al (2014) estimated the fate of steroids in China by multimedia fugacity models. Of the total steroids an estimated mass of 73% ends up in sediments, and 8% in soil.…”

Low concentrations of dihydrotestosterone induce female‐to‐male sex reversal in the frog Pelophylax nigromaculatus

“…Natural androgenic steroids excreted by humans and animals and synthetic androgenic steroids widely used in daily life and livestock industry have become a group of important androgenic EDCs because of their constant discharge into aquatic environments via wastewater, especially from wastewater treatment plants . Testosterone, 5α‐dihydrotestosterone (DHT), ethynyl testosterone, and androsterone are frequently detected androgenic EDCs in surface water .…”

Evaluation of estrogenic activity in the Pearl River by using effect-directed analysis

“…Among various hormonal activities, estrogenic chemicals in the aquatic environment have received the most attention. There is a long list of chemicals with estrogenic activity, which include natural estrogens excreted from humans and animals, and synthetic or industrial chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA), 4-tert-octylphenol (4-t-OP), and 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) (Fürhacker et al 2000;Ying et al 2002a, b;Chang et al 2009;Zhang et al 2014). Incomplete removal of these chemicals in wastewater treatment plants may lead to contamination of the receiving aquatic environment (Ying et al 2008;Chang et al 2009;Arditsoglou and Voutsa 2010), which may cause various endocrine-disrupting effects such as feminization of fish (Kawai et al 2003;Jobling et al 2009;Xie et al 2010;Milla et al 2011).…”