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Effects-Based Monitoring of Bioactive Chemicals Discharged to the Colorado River Before and After a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Replacement
Citation:
Cavallin, J., W. Battaglin, J. Beihoffer, B. Blackwell, P. Bradley, A. Cole, D. Ekman, R. Hofer, J. Kinsey, K. Keteles, D. Winkelman, AND Dan Villeneuve. Effects-Based Monitoring of Bioactive Chemicals Discharged to the Colorado River Before and After a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Replacement. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 55(2):974-984, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c05269
Impact/Purpose:
The lack of established water quality criteria or guidelines for many contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in surface waters represents a significant challenge to state and regional risk assessors charged with protecting our nations waters and associated aquatic ecosystems from harmful impacts of toxic chemicals. For example, recent contaminant and biological effects surveillance on the Colorado River in Region 8 has detected complex mixtures of contaminants and estrogen receptor (ER), glucocorticoid receptor (GR), and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)-mediated biological activities in surface waters downstream of municipal waste-water treatments plants (WWTP). Their spatial and temporal variation in relation to discharge and flows, potential hazards to resident aquatic organisms, and whether adverse biological effects are occurring, are unknown. Environmental surveillance and monitoring approaches capable of detecting sublethal impacts of chemical contaminants in complex mixtures before they manifest into ecosystem-level impairments, are needed. Furthermore, approaches that provide the ability to relate these effects to potential causative agents and sources are critical for enabling Regional Offices to meet their mandates. The present RARE project (#2100) builds upon several years of preliminary chemical monitoring research on the Colorado River as a basis for further investigation of ER, GR, and PPAR-bioactive contaminants and potential responses elicited in caged fish.
Description:
Product description: The present study highlights the utility of bioeffects-based monitoring in conjunction with analytical chemical measurements of surface waters on the Colorado River associated with a historically bioactive wastewater treatment plant effluent. Concurrent with chemical monitoring and in vitro bioactivity measurements, in situ caged fish systems were employed to evaluate the potential bioavailability of predicted biologically-active contaminants associated with ER, GR, and PPAR-associated activities. The present study compares the effects of a wastewater treatment plant facility upgrade on bioactive contaminant loading. Monitoring of the Colorado River near the Moab, Utah, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outflow detected chemicals of emerging concern and estrogen-receptor (ER)-, glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-, and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-gamma (PPAR)-mediated biological activities. A multi-year study assessed the effect of a WWTP replacement on bioactive chemical (BC) concentrations. Water samples were collected bimonthly, pre- and post-replacement, at 11 sites along the Colorado River, and analyzed for in vitro biological activities (e.g., agonism of ER, GR, and PPAR) and BC concentrations, and adult fathead minnows were cage-deployed pre- and post-replacement at sites with varying proximities to the WWTP outflow. Prior to the WWTP replacement, in vitro ER (up to 24 ng 17β-estradiol equivalents/L), GR (up to 60 ng dexamethasone equivalents/L), and PPAR mediated activities were detected at the WWTP outflow, but rapidly diminished downstream. In March 2018 the WWTP effluent was acutely toxic to the fish, likely due to elevated ammonia concentrations. Following the WWTP replacement, ER, GR, and PPARɣ bioactivities were reduced approximately 60-79%, no toxicity was observed in caged fish, and there were marked decreases in concentrations of many BCs. Results suggest that replacement of the Moab WWTP achieved a significant reduction in BC concentration in the Colorado River.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Effects-Based Monitoring of Bioactive Chemicals Discharged to the Colorado River Before and After a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant Replacement