| Effluent Concentrations | 17beta-Estradiol was reported in 32% of 95-144 samples of central California municipal waste water treatment plant effluent with a maximum concentration of 7.8 ng/L(1). The compound was tested for but not detected (detection limit = 0.1 ng/L) in effluent samples collected from the Jefferson Parish East Bank Wastewater Treatment Plant in New Orleans, Louisiana between September and November, 2001. It was not detected in effluent samples collected during the same time from the A.H. Weeks Water Treatment Plant and the ENWIN Pilot Plant in Windsor, Ontario, Canada(2). Estradiol was not detected in effluent samples from wastewater treatment plants located on the West Prong Little Pigeon River in east Tennessee, USAdetection limit = 44 ng/L(3).A concentration of 0.0011 ug/L has been reported in effluent from a Swedish sewage treatment plant(1). The mean 17beta-estradiol concentration in effluent samples from a large coastal primary sewage treatment plant in Malabar, Sydney, Australia was 14 ng/L(2). Concentrations in sewage treatment plant effluents were as follows: Italy, 10/99-03/2000, 30 samples, 0.44-3.3 ng/L (1.0 ng/L median)Netherlands, 10/97-12/97, 6 samples, <0.1-5.0 ng/L (<detection limit median)Germany, 11/97, 16 samples, <detection limit-3 ng/L <detection limit median)Canada, 11/97, 10 samples, <detection limit-64 ng/L (6 ng/L median): UK, 5/95-1/96, 21 samples, 2.7-48 ng/L (6.9 ng/L median)Japan, 07/98-03/99, 27 triplicate samples, 3.2-55 (14 median)<detection limit-43 (13 median)0.3-30 (14 median) all values ng/LUSA, 05/97-10/97, 5 samples, 0.477-3.66 ng/L (0.9 ng/L median)Germany, 6/2000-10/2000, 16 samples, <0.15-5.2 ng/L (0.4 ng/L median)(3). 17beta-Estradiol was detected in 14 of 16 effluent samples collected from Ulm, Langenau, and Blaubeuren, southern Germany between June to October 2000 at concentrations ranging from 0.15 to 5.2 ng/L, mean 0.9 ng/L. 17alpha-Estradiol was detected in 13 of 16 effluent samples at concentrations ranging from 0.15 to 4.5 ng/L, mean 1.0 ng/L(4). Estradiol concentrations ranged from 2-5 ng/L, with one outlier at 18 ng/L, in effluents from 12 waste water treatment facilities across southern Victoria, Australia, sampled in 2004(5). Estradiol was tested for but not detected (detection limit = 2-100 ng/L) in effluent samples from sewage treatment plants in the vicinity of Barcelona, Spain, sampled from April to June, 1999(6). Estradiol was detected in 13 of 38 German municipal sewage treatment plant effluents from below the limit of quantification to a maximum of 0.003 ug/L(7).17alpha-Estradiol was detected in a typical dairy waste disposal system for 2000 dairy cows in San Jacinto, CA (ug/kg dry weight): fresh manure less than 2 hrs old, 1416piled manure at 2 weeks, 172three lagoon days at 3 months43, 54, and 8, respectively. Concentrations reported for 17beta-estradiol were 153 in fresh manure, 37 in piled manure, 18 ug/kg dry weight in dam 1, below the detection limit in dam 2, and not detected in dam 3(1). A concentration of 3 ng/L was estimated as present in runoff from agricultural fields in the Calleguas Creek watershed, Ventura County, CA which have been irrigated with treated wastewaterconcentration in applied wastewater ranged from 0.1-64 ng/L(2).As a result of analysis of effluents of several different types of municipal waste treatment plants in central Michigan, it has been concluded that human hormones (17beta-estradiol) and synthetic hormones (ethinylestradiol), not industrial chemicals with estrogenic activity, in the effluents caused male fish to produce vitellogenin, an accepted indicator of endocrine disruption(1). |
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