Selected pharmaceutical chemicals, steroids and xenoestrogens (PCSXs) consisting of 29 endocrine modulators, therapeutic drugs, pesticides, detergents, plastics, and active ingredients in household products were measured in water, riverbed sediments and fish collected in a tributary embayment of the Potomac River (Hunting Creek, Alexandria, VA, USA) in the vicinity of wastewater discharge. A total of 17 PCSXs were found in the Hunting Creek samples, with steroid hormones (e.g., progesterone and 17α-ethinylestradiol), triclosan, dextromethorphan and bisphenol A being the most prominent micropollutants detected.The geospatial distribution of the PCSXs in Hunting Creek indicated that the steroids correlated with wastewater treatment plant discharge in all matrices, but such an association is tentative in Hunting Creek given the complex nature of urban sources of PCSXs and hydrodynamics in an urban tidal river. The sediment PCSX concentrations correlated with sediment total organic carbon content at all sampling sites. For the most part, the PCSXs showed an enrichment in fish tissue relative to sediments when concentrations were normalized to lipids and sediment organic carbon contents, but the influence of endogenous steroids is also an important consideration for these chemicals.
Keywords: Fish; pharmaceutical chemicals; riverbed sediments; steroids; surface water; xenoestrogens.