Occurrence and Removal of PPCPs and EDCs in the Detroit River Watershed

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahram Tabe ◽  
Paul Yang ◽  
Xiaoming Zhao ◽  
Chunyan Hao ◽  
Rajesh Seth ◽  
...  

The occurrence of 51 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in the Detroit River Watershed (DRW) was investigated. Also, the efficiency of local water treatment plants (WTPs) in removing these pollutants was evaluated. Samples were collected from various locations in the DRW, including the discharge of a sewage treatment plant (STP), downstream of the STP on the Detroit River, the intakes of the WTPs, and treated drinking water. Of the 51 target substances analyzed, 12 were not detected in any of the samples, while 14 were detected consistently in all samples from the STP effluent. The concentration of target chemicals was two to four orders of magnitude higher in the STP effluents than at the intakes of the WTPs. In total, 10 substances were detected in at least 10% of the drinking water samples. Two compounds, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctyl solfonate (PFOS), were found in 90+% of the drinking water samples.

2004 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.B. van Zyl ◽  
P.J. Williams ◽  
W.O.K. Grabow ◽  
M.B. Taylor

Group A human rotaviruses (HRVs) are the most important aetiological agents of acute viral gastroenteritis in infants and young children in both developing and industrialised countries. Rotaviruses are resistant to many chemical disinfectants and reportedly survive well in treated tapwater and sewage. In this study a group A specific reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) followed by a nested-PCR was applied for the detection of HRVs in raw and treated drinking-water samples drawn at a water reclamation plant. For a period of two years (July 2000 to June 2002), borehole, raw and treated drinking-water samples were collected weekly. Viruses were recovered from the water samples using a glass wool adsorption-elution technique followed by secondary concentration using precipitation with polyethylene glycol. In the first year of the study group A HRVs were detected in 11% sewage samples, 8% partially treated waters and 5% final treated drinking waters. The results of the second year of the study showed the presence of group A HRVs in 11% sewage and untreated surface water samples, 15% partially treated water and 6.5% final treated drinking waters. No HRVs were detected in the water samples from the boreholes. The presence of group A HRVs in treated drinking-water samples suggested that this water could be a potential source of infection to consumers. The data also implied that either the water treatment did not remove HRVs or the treated water was contaminated post-treatment.


Author(s):  
A. Gontaszewska ◽  
A. Kraiński

The influence of sludge on the groundwater’s quality has been shown on the bases of the agricultural exploitation of the sludge from a sewage-treatment plant. Little thickness of unsaturated zone (8.8 m) is not effective protection against the infiltration of the pollution from the surface. Unsaturated zone consist of sand of permeability coefficient k=0,68 m/h. The time of the vertical infiltration into the aquifer has been estimated at t=14,4 days. The investigations carried out during fertilization with the sludge have revealed an undoubted increase in the concentration of some ions as well as the increase in pH of the groundwater. The increase in the amount of some ions (e.g. N-NO3, SO4, Zn) as well as detergents indicates the possibility (as function of time) of reaching higher values than the ones permissible for drinking water. The phenomenon of the increase in the concentration of the particular ions will be accelerated after depletion of sorption of the soil in the unsaturated zone. The time can be estimated for not more than several years, taking into account a small area of the fertilized fields and high contents of “pollution” in the sludge (the total of the heavy metals reaches up to 1,5 g/kg)


2016 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Comerlato ◽  
F. Souza-Campos ◽  
T. Souza-Arantes ◽  
M. I. Roos-Kulmann ◽  
M. Trindade-Oliveira ◽  
...  

Abstract The human polyomaviruses JC and BK (JCPyV and BKPyV) are ubiquitous, species-specific viruses that belong to the family Polyomaviridae. These viruses are known to be excreted in human urine, and they are potential indicators of human wastewater contamination. In order to assess the distribution of both JCPyV and BKPyV in urban water samples collected from a sewage treatment plant (STP) and from a canalized water stream of Porto Alegre, Brazil, two nested-PCR assays were optimized and applied to the samples collected. The amplicons obtained were submitted to sequencing, and the sequences were analyzed with sequences of human polyomaviruses previously deposited in GenBank. Twelve out of 30 water samples (40%) were JCPyV positive, whereas six samples (20%) were BKPyV positive. The sequencing results confirmed the presence of JCPyV subtypes 1 and 3, whereas only BKPyV Ia and Ib were found. This study shows for the first time the presence of human polyomaviruses in surface water and in samples collected in a sewage treatment plant in southern Brazil.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 528-536
Author(s):  
Yehia A. Osman ◽  
Waled M. El-Senousy ◽  
Adel A. El-Morsi ◽  
Mohammed K. Rashed

The fecal bacteria have been taken as the gold standard for water industry. However, the spread of viral gastroenteritis due to drinking water have given a momentum to a recent push by microbiologists to consider viruses as important pollution indicator as fecal bacteria. Therefore, we designed a study to evaluate the efficiency of two types of water purification systems: the traditional water treatment plant and two types compact units. Both systems produced drinking waters free of bacteria, chemical contaminants and mostly viruses free.  However, recent advances in molecular biology techniques, such as RT-PCR have detected Rotaviruses in chlorinated drinking waters resulted from all systems. The frequency of Rotaviruses since October 2010 till September 2012 in Shark El-Mansoura WTP in drinking water samples was 12.5% similar to raw water. While the compact unit at Depo Awam (American design) the frequency of Rotavirus was 16.6% in both raw and drinking water samples.  On the other hand the virus frequency in the raw and drinking water sample in El-Danabik unit (Egyptian design) were 12.5% and 4.16% respectively. Signifying failure of the chlorination process in removing viruses completely.  However, detection of Rotavirus genome in the drinking water samples does not means the presence of its infectivity. The infectious ability of the rotaviruses was confirmed by CC-RT-PCR in all positive samples, where viral RNA was not detected in the collected drinking water samples.  In conclusion RT-PCR and CC-RT-PCR techniques high lightened the need to include viruses as mandatory pollution indicator in water treatment plants. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(3): 528-536


Author(s):  
Odai Attili ◽  
Rashed Al-Sa'ed

This paper investigated the effectiveness of natural wetlands (Phragmites australis) along Wadi Zomer in reducing the organic and inorganic pollution loads from diverse industrial discharges including occasional emergency discharges from Nablus West Sewage Treatment Plant (NWSTP), Palestine. We monitored physical and chemical parameters at four selective sampling stations (S1-S4) along Wadi Zomer with a length of 5 km downstream of NWSTP to assess the purification capacity of Wadi Zomer treatment wetlands (water, sediment, and vegetation) with Phragmites australis in pollution loads reduction. The results showed that S2 (0+0.5 km) and S3 (0+3.0 km) reflected an increase in pollution loads due to illicit industrial discharge and sewer overflow discharge from NWSTP during emergency conditions. BOD values varied significantly along the sampling sites from 6.64 mg/l (S1) to 437.10 mg/l (S3). The BOD at S1 and S2 in water samples were below the Palestinian Water Standard (PWS) compared to S3 and S4 with 437.1 and 333.9 mg/l, respectively. Water samples from all sites (S1-S4) showed a decreasing tendency in heavy metals concentrations (Fe>Cu>Zn>Cr >Ni) and were below the PWS limits, sediment samples followed the same decrease pattern for Zn, Cr, and Ni content with Wadi Zomer flow course. The concentration of Fe (6687 mg/kg) and Cu (1384.7 mg/kg) were highest in the sediment samples (S1-S4); this might be due to non-point sources of pollution. The research demonstrated that phytoremediation is a sustainable nature-based technology for the restoration of heavily polluted surface water bodies in Palestine.


2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 279-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mastrup ◽  
A.I. Schäfer ◽  
S.J. Khan

The risk of endocrine disrupters to humans and wildlife is to date poorly understood, although evidence of effects is now widespread. In understanding the risk, an important step is the determination of the partitioning, as well as chemical and biochemical transformation, of compounds in the environment, the water cycle and the food chain. This is a complex task and this paper is a first step towards estimating some of these factors from a largely theoretical approach. A chemical fate model is used to predict the fate of the contraceptive drug 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2). The example of the contraceptive pill is chosen to follow the journey of the drug from human ingestion and excretion to treatment in a sewage treatment plant (STP) using fugacity-based fate models, followed by discharge into a receiving river and eventually into the estuary/sea. The model predicts how EE2 will partition into the different compartments during each stage of this journey and thereby infiltrate into the food chain. The results suggest that a person would have to ingest more than 30,000 portions of fish to consume an equivalent to a single average dose of the contraceptive pill. While this scenario is highly unlikely, the biochemical consequence of the contraceptive pill is greatly significant. Furthermore, there are many identified similarly estrogenic compounds in the environment while this study only considers one. Cumulative effects of such compounds as well as degradation into other potent compounds may be anticipated. An important message in this paper is the interrelation of wastewater effluent discharge and eventual human exposure of marginally degradable and lipophilic chemicals. While at present the main concerns regarding endocrine disrupters appear to be the fear of their occurrence in drinking water sources, it is clear that the domains of wastewater treatment and discharge, water supply and contamination of food should not be treated as separate issues. The model suggests that exposure from food (contaminated by effluent) may be much more significant than from drinking water.


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