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In Vitro Assessment of Estrogenic Activity in Source and Treated Drinking Water Extracts from 25 U.S. Drinking Water Plants
Citation:
Wilson, V., N. Evans, K. Schenck, H. Mash, L. Rosenblum, S. Glassmeyer, E. Furlong, AND D. Kolpin. In Vitro Assessment of Estrogenic Activity in Source and Treated Drinking Water Extracts from 25 U.S. Drinking Water Plants. Presented at Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Annual Meeting, November 11 - 15, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
will be presented at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)Annual Meeting, November 11-15, 2012, Long Beach, CA
Description:
The presence of estrogenic compounds in environmental water samples and their potential impact on fish, wildlife and human reproductive health has been of concern for some time. In vitro assays have been successfully used to screen for estrogenic activity in many types of water samples including effluents from waste water treatment and cattle, dairy, swine and poultry operations. Few studies, however, have applied in vitro assays to evaluate possible estrogenic activity in source and treated drinking water samples. Scientists from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are collaborating on a research study to determine the presence of contaminants of emerging concern in source and treated drinking waters collected from up to 25 drinking water treatment plants (DWTP) using various treatment processes from across the United States. In the current study untreated source and treated drinking water samples from each plant were assessed for cumulative estrogenic activity in an estrogen receptor-mediated transcriptional activation(ER-TA)assay. Extracts of each DWTP sample were prepared targeting steroid hormone enrichment. Aliquots of each extract were also retained for analytical chemistry analysis. Spiked (target = 3 pM EEQ in the assay) and unspiked field blank extracts were prepared concurrently with each DWTP extract. Responses for the spiked samples appropriately ranged from 2.8 to 4.7 pM with a mean of 3.6 pM giving added confidence in the predictive ability ofthe assay. Testing of the source and treated water extracts in the ER-TA assay is ongoing. To date low level estrogenic activity has been detected in eight of the source water extracts but most post-treatment extracts from the same plant contained no detectable estrogenic activity. ER-TA results will also be compared to expected estrogenic activity based on analytical chemistry results. Overall this validated, sensitive cell line can be used for screening individual ch