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Sonavane M, Schollée JE, Hidasi AO, Creusot N, Brion F, Suter MJF, Hollender J, Aїt-Aїssa S. An integrative approach combining passive sampling, bioassays, and effect-directed analysis to assess the impact of wastewater effluent. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018; 37:2079-2088. [PMID: 29667746 DOI: 10.1002/etc.4155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2017] [Revised: 12/31/2017] [Accepted: 04/16/2018] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents are major sources of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and other chemicals of toxicological concern for the aquatic environment. In the present study, we used an integrated strategy combining passive sampling (Chemcatcher®), developmental toxicity, and mechanism-based in vitro and in vivo bioassays to monitor the impacts of a WWTP on a river. In vitro screening revealed the WWTP effluent as a source of estrogen, glucocorticoid, and aryl hydrocarbon (AhR) receptor-mediated activities impacting the downstream river site where significant activities were also measured, albeit to a lesser extent than in the effluent. Effect-directed analysis of the effluent successfully identified the presence of potent estrogens (estrone, 17α-ethinylestradiol, and 17β-estradiol) and glucocorticoids (clobetasol propionate and fluticasone propionate) as the major contributors to the observed in vitro activities, even though other unidentified active chemicals were likely present. The impact of the WWTP was also assessed using zebrafish embryo assays, highlighting its ability to induce estrogenic response through up-regulation of the aromatase promoter-dependent reporter gene in the transgenic (cyp19a1b-green fluorescent protein [GFP]) zebrafish assay and to generate teratogenic effects at nonlethal concentrations in the zebrafish embryo toxicity test. The present study argues for the use of such an integrated approach, combining passive sampling, bioassays, and effect-directed analysis, to comprehensively identify endocrine active compounds and associated hazards of WTTP effluents. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:2079-2088. © 2018 SETAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manoj Sonavane
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des risques (INERIS), Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Jennifer E Schollée
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Anita O Hidasi
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPF Lausanne), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Nicolas Creusot
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des risques (INERIS), Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - François Brion
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des risques (INERIS), Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Marc J-F Suter
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Juliane Hollender
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland
- Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Selim Aїt-Aїssa
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des risques (INERIS), Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
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Escher BI, Aїt-Aїssa S, Behnisch PA, Brack W, Brion F, Brouwer A, Buchinger S, Crawford SE, Du Pasquier D, Hamers T, Hettwer K, Hilscherová K, Hollert H, Kase R, Kienle C, Tindall AJ, Tuerk J, van der Oost R, Vermeirssen E, Neale PA. Effect-based trigger values for in vitro and in vivo bioassays performed on surface water extracts supporting the environmental quality standards (EQS) of the European Water Framework Directive. Sci Total Environ 2018; 628-629:748-765. [PMID: 29454215 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 135] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Revised: 01/29/2018] [Accepted: 01/31/2018] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Effect-based methods including cell-based bioassays, reporter gene assays and whole-organism assays have been applied for decades in water quality monitoring and testing of enriched solid-phase extracts. There is no common EU-wide agreement on what level of bioassay response in water extracts is acceptable. At present, bioassay results are only benchmarked against each other but not against a consented measure of chemical water quality. The EU environmental quality standards (EQS) differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable surface water concentrations for individual chemicals but cannot capture the thousands of chemicals in water and their biological action as mixtures. We developed a method that reads across from existing EQS and includes additional mixture considerations with the goal that the derived effect-based trigger values (EBT) indicate acceptable risk for complex mixtures as they occur in surface water. Advantages and limitations of various approaches to read across from EQS are discussed and distilled to an algorithm that translates EQS into their corresponding bioanalytical equivalent concentrations (BEQ). The proposed EBT derivation method was applied to 48 in vitro bioassays with 32 of them having sufficient information to yield preliminary EBTs. To assess the practicability and robustness of the proposed approach, we compared the tentative EBTs with observed environmental effects. The proposed method only gives guidance on how to derive EBTs but does not propose final EBTs for implementation. The EBTs for some bioassays such as those for estrogenicity are already mature and could be implemented into regulation in the near future, while for others it will still take a few iterations until we can be confident of the power of the proposed EBTs to differentiate good from poor water quality with respect to chemical contamination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beate I Escher
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Environmental Toxicology, Centre for Applied Geosciences, 72074 Tübingen, Germany; Australian Rivers Institute, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia; The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), Brisbane, QLD 4108, Australia.
| | - Selim Aїt-Aїssa
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques INERIS, Unité d'Ecotoxicologie, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | | | - Werner Brack
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - François Brion
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques INERIS, Unité d'Ecotoxicologie, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | | | | | - Sarah E Crawford
- Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | | | - Timo Hamers
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Dept. Environment & Health, De Boelelaan 1108, 1081 HZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Klára Hilscherová
- Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Kamenice 753/5, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Henner Hollert
- Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Robert Kase
- Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, Überlandstrasse 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Cornelia Kienle
- Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, Überlandstrasse 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Andrew J Tindall
- Laboratoire Watchfrog, 1 Rue Pierre Fontaine, 91 000 Evry, France
| | - Jochen Tuerk
- Institut für Energie- und Umwelttechnik e.V. (IUTA, Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology), Bliersheimer Str. 58-60, D-47229 Duisburg, Germany
| | - Ron van der Oost
- Waternet Institute for the Urban Water Cycle, Department of Technology, Research and Engineering, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Etienne Vermeirssen
- Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, Überlandstrasse 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Peta A Neale
- Australian Rivers Institute, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia; The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), Brisbane, QLD 4108, Australia
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Neale PA, Munz NA, Aїt-Aїssa S, Altenburger R, Brion F, Busch W, Escher BI, Hilscherová K, Kienle C, Novák J, Seiler TB, Shao Y, Stamm C, Hollender J. Integrating chemical analysis and bioanalysis to evaluate the contribution of wastewater effluent on the micropollutant burden in small streams. Sci Total Environ 2017; 576:785-795. [PMID: 27810763 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.10.141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 99] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2016] [Revised: 10/03/2016] [Accepted: 10/19/2016] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Surface waters can contain a range of micropollutants from point sources, such as wastewater effluent, and diffuse sources, such as agriculture. Characterizing the source of micropollutants is important for reducing their burden and thus mitigating adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems. In this study, chemical analysis and bioanalysis were applied to assess the micropollutant burden during low flow conditions upstream and downstream of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) discharging into small streams in the Swiss Plateau. The upstream sites had no input of wastewater effluent, allowing a direct comparison of the observed effects with and without the contribution of wastewater. Four hundred and five chemicals were analyzed, while the applied bioassays included activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, activation of the androgen receptor, activation of the estrogen receptor, photosystem II inhibition, acetylcholinesterase inhibition and adaptive stress responses for oxidative stress, genotoxicity and inflammation, as well as assays indicative of estrogenic activity and developmental toxicity in zebrafish embryos. Chemical analysis and bioanalysis showed higher chemical concentrations and effects for the effluent samples, with the lowest chemical concentrations and effects in most assays for the upstream sites. Mixture toxicity modeling was applied to assess the contribution of detected chemicals to the observed effect. For most bioassays, very little of the observed effects could be explained by the detected chemicals, with the exception of photosystem II inhibition, where herbicides explained the majority of the effect. This emphasizes the importance of combining bioanalysis with chemical analysis to provide a more complete picture of the micropollutant burden. While the wastewater effluents had a significant contribution to micropollutant burden downstream, both chemical analysis and bioanalysis showed a relevant contribution of diffuse sources from upstream during low flow conditions, suggesting that upgrading WWTPs will not completely reduce the micropollutant burden, but further source control measures will be required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peta A Neale
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia; The University of Queensland, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox), Brisbane, QLD 4108, Australia
| | - Nicole A Munz
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland; Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Selim Aїt-Aїssa
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques INERIS, Unité d'Ecotoxicologie, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Rolf Altenburger
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
| | - François Brion
- Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques INERIS, Unité d'Ecotoxicologie, 60550 Verneuil-en-Halatte, France
| | - Wibke Busch
- UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Beate I Escher
- Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University, Southport, QLD 4222, Australia; The University of Queensland, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox), Brisbane, QLD 4108, Australia; UFZ - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Environmental Toxicology, Center for Applied Geosciences, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
| | - Klára Hilscherová
- Masaryk University, Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Kamenice 753/5, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Cornelia Kienle
- Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, Überlandstrasse 133, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Jiří Novák
- Masaryk University, Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Kamenice 753/5, 62500 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Thomas-Benjamin Seiler
- Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Ying Shao
- Department of Ecosystem Analysis, Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
| | - Christian Stamm
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
| | - Juliane Hollender
- Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland; Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zürich, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland
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