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Effects-based monitoring of bioactive compounds associated with municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent discharge to the South Platte River, Colorado, USA
Citation:
Cavallin, J., J. Beihoffer, B. Blackwell, A. Cole, D. Ekman, R. Hofer, A. Jastrow, J. Kinsey, K. Keteles, E. Maloney, J. Parman, D. Winkelman, AND Dan Villeneuve. Effects-based monitoring of bioactive compounds associated with municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent discharge to the South Platte River, Colorado, USA. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 289:117928, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117928
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. The present study demonstrates how data and tools from new approach methodologies for chemical safety assessment can be employed to characterize the spatial extent and temporal variability of toxicologically relevant biological activity of complex mixtures of contaminants present in surface water. The approaches inform identification of priority chemicals that may warrant further as well as potential effects to monitor in organisms exposed in situ. As such, the tools and approaches demonstrated in the present study can be adopted by Regional, state, and local authorities to aid in evaluating the potential impacts on contaminants on their natural resources and guide investments in future monitoring and management
Description:
Previous studies have detected numerous organic contaminants and in vitro bioactivities in surface water from the South Platte River near Denver, Colorado, USA. To evaluate the temporal and spatial distribution of selected contaminants of emerging concern, water samples were collected throughout 2018 and 2019 at 11 sites within the S. Platte River and surrounding tributaries with varying proximities to a major wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Water samples were analyzed for pharmaceuticals, pesticides, steroid hormones, and wastewater indicators and screened for in vitro biological activities. Multiplexed, in vitro assays that simultaneously screen for agonistic activity against 24 human nuclear receptors detected estrogen receptor (ER), peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-gamma (PPARγ), and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) bioactivities in water samples near the WWTP outflow. Targeted in vitro bioassays assessing ER, GR, and PPARγ agonism corroborated bioactivities for ER (up to 55 ± 9.7 ng/L 17β-estradiol equivalents) and GR (up to 156 ± 28 ng/L dexamethasone equivalents), while PPARγ activity was not confirmed. To evaluate the potential in vivo significance of the bioactive contaminants, sexually-mature fathead minnows were caged at six locations upstream and downstream of the WWTP for 5 days after which targeted gene expression analyses were performed. Significant up-regulation of male hepatic vitellogenin was observed at sites with corresponding in vitro ER activity. No site-related differences in GR-related transcript abundance were detected in female adipose or male livers, suggesting observed environmental concentrations of GR-active contaminants do not induce a detectable in vivo response. In line with the lack of detectable targeted in vitro PPAR¿ activity, there were no significant effects on PPAR¿-related gene expression. Although the chemicals responsible for GR and PPAR-mediated bioactivities are unknown, results from the present study provide insights into the significance (or lack thereof) of these bioactivities relative to short-term in situ fish exposures.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Effects-based monitoring of bioactive compounds associated with municipal wastewater treatment plant effluent discharge to the South Platte River, Colorado, USA
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34426200/