Predicting fate of the contraceptive pill in wastewater treatment and discharge

Abstract

The risk of endocrine disrupters to humans and wildlife is to date poorly understood, although evidence of effects is now widespread. In understanding the risk, an important step is the determination of the partitioning, as well as chemical and biochemical transformation, of compounds in the environment, the water cycle and the food chain. This is a complex task and this paper is a first step towards estimating some of these factors from a largely theoretical approach. A chemical fate model is used to predict the fate of the contraceptive drug 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2). The example of the contraceptive pill is chosen to follow the journey of the drug from human ingestion and excretion to treatment in a sewage treatment plant (STP) using fugacity-based fate models, followed by discharge into a receiving river and eventually into the estuary/sea. The model predicts how EE2 will partition into the different compartments during each stage of this journey and thereby infiltrate into the food chain. The results suggest that a person would have to ingest more than 30,000 portions of fish to consume an equivalent to a single average dose of the contraceptive pill. While this scenario is highly unlikely, the biochemical consequence of the contraceptive pill is greatly significant. Furthermore, there are many identified similarly estrogenic compounds in the environment while this study only considers one. Cumulative effects of such compounds as well as degradation into other potent compounds may be anticipated. An important message in this paper is the interrelation of wastewater effluent discharge and eventual human exposure of marginally degradable and lipophilic chemicals. While at present the main concerns regarding endocrine disrupters appear to be the fear of their occurrence in drinking water sources, it is clear that the domains of wastewater treatment and discharge, water supply and contamination of food should not be treated as separate issues. The model suggests that exposure from food (contaminated by effluent) may be much more significant than from drinking water.

Estradiol Valerate and Dienogest: A Novel Four-Phasic Oral Contraceptive Pill Effective for Pregnancy Prevention and Treatment of Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

“…In evaluating this new oral contraceptive pill, one may also consider the emerging body of environmental science research concerning the presence of synthetic hormones in rivers, streams and drinking water. Hormones from combined oral contraceptives, particularly EE, are considered to be endocrine disruptors and have deleterious effects on fish and wildlife [47,48]. Though all estrogenic pollutants are potentially harmful, future studies are needed to determine whether E2V/DNG and its metabolites in human waste may represent a lesser threat to the environment.…”

Chemical Introductions to Estuarine and Coastal Systems

“…The concentrations of these chemicals ranged from 0.1 to almost 700 μg l −1 . Reclaimed wastewater can also have measurable con centrations of PPCPs and other biodegradable organic compounds (Mastrup et al, 2005;Loraine and Pettigrov, 2006;Matamoros et al, 2009). Several other researchers have found a wide range of organic compounds in wastewater and sewage sludges (Xia et al, 2005;Busetti et al, 2006;Burns et al, 2007;Cai et al, 2007;Dai et al, 2007;Clarke et al, 2008;Li et al, 2008;Aparicio et al, 2009;Guo and Krasner, 2009;Guo et al, 2009b;Loganathan et al, 2009;Mansuy-Huault et al, 2009).…”

Parameters explaining removal of PAHs from sewage sludge by ozonation

“…Indeed, coefficients of K ow in the models were either positive or negative, which can be explained by the fact that this parameter was not significant. The K ow coefficient is often used as an assessment of the hydrophobicity of organic compounds, although it does not correctly represent the affinity of PAHs for organic sludge as previously reported by Mastrup et al,20 who studied the interactions of sludge and another organic pollutant (contraceptive pill).…”