Ecological risk assessment associated with five endocrine-disrupting compounds in wastewater treatment plants of Northeast Mexico

Abstract

The ecological risk associated with five endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) was studied in four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Monterrey, Mexico. The EDCs, 17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), bisphenol A (BPA), 4-nonylphenol (4NP), and 4-tert-octylphenol (4TOP) were determined by SPE/GC-MS method, where EE2 and 4TOP were the most abundant in effluents at levels from 1.6 - 26.8 ng/L (EE2) and < LOD - 5.0 ng/L (4TOP), which corroborate that the wastewater discharges represent critical sources of EDCs to the aquatic environments. In this study, the potential risk associated with selected EDCs was assessed through the risk quotients (RQs) and by estimating the estrogenic activity (expressed as EEQ). This study also constitutes the first approach for the ecological risk assessment in effluents of WWTPs in Northeast Mexico. The results demonstrated that the effluents of the WWTPs represent a high risk for the organisms living in the receiving water bodies because the residual estrogens effect E2 and EE2 with RQ values up to 49.1 and 1165.2. EEQ values between 6.3 and 24.6 ngEE2/L were considered the most hazardous compounds among the target EDCs, capable of causing some alterations in the endocrine system of aquatic and terrestrial organisms due to chronic exposition.

Keywords: Environmental pollution; GC–MS; Health risk; Quotient risk; Water pollution.