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Occurrence and change of estrogenic activity in the process of drinking water treatment and distribution

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Abstract

From 2010 to 2012, the Yangtze River and Hanjiang River (Wuhan section) were monitored for estrogenic activities during various water level periods. Using a recombinant yeast estrogen screen (YES) assay, 54 water samples were evaluated over the course of nine sampling campaigns. The mean 17β-estradiol equivalent (EEQ) value of raw water from the Yangtze River was 0–5.20 ng/L; and the EEQ level from the Hanjiang River was 0–3.22 ng/L. In Wuhan, drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) using conventional treatments reduced estrogenic activities by more than 89 %. In general, water samples collected during the level period showed weaker estrogenic activities compared to those collected during the dry period. The samples collected in 2010 showed the strongest estrogenic activities of the 3-year period. The lack of correlations between estrogenic activities and selected common water quality parameters showed that estrogenic activity cannot be tied to common water quality parameters.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Wuhan Water Group Company for their assistance in the experimental work. Financial support from the City Construction Committee of Wuhan, Research Project No. 200734, is gratefully acknowledged. This paper has been carefully checked for English by Andrew Chatwood, an outstanding Canadian technical writer. We appreciate his professionalism and kindness very much.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Medicine, MOE Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Sanhua Xiao, Xuemin Lv, Yi Lu, Xiaoming Yang, Xiaorong Dong, Kunpeng Ma, Yifan Zeng, Tao Jin & Fei Tang

Authors
  1. Sanhua Xiao
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  2. Xuemin Lv
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  3. Yi Lu
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  4. Xiaoming Yang
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  5. Xiaorong Dong
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  6. Kunpeng Ma
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  7. Yifan Zeng
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  8. Tao Jin
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  9. Fei Tang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fei Tang.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The work described has not been published before and is not under consideration for publication anywhere else. Its publication has been approved by all coauthors.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Highlights

• This is the first study to systematically assess drinking water samples from both the Yangtze River and the Hanjiang River for estrogenic activity.

• The water samples were collected from the two rivers over a 3-year period, during diverse water level seasons, and assessed for estrogenic activities.

• Conventional drinking water treatment plants effectively reduced estrogenic activity.

• There were no correlations between estrogenic activities and common water quality parameters.

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Xiao, S., Lv, X., Lu, Y. et al. Occurrence and change of estrogenic activity in the process of drinking water treatment and distribution. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 16977–16986 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6866-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6866-z

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