Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Persist Downstream from the Source Completed
USGS Scientists Measuring Concentrations of Select EDCs
in Spirit Creek, Georgia
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) were transported 2 kilometers downstream of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outfall in a coastal plain stream. EDCs persisted downstream of the outfall with little change in the numbers of EDCs and limited decreases in EDC concentrations.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists measured concentrations of select EDCs approximately 10 times in water and sediment from 2009 to 2011, at five sites in the Spirit Creek watershed near Fort Gordon, Georgia, as part of an assessment of the effects of the closure of a WWTP on EDC persistence.
Sites included a control site upstream of the WWTP outfall and four other sites in the 2–kilometer reach extending downstream to Spirit Lake, into which Spirit Creek flows. A site located at the outfall of Spirit Lake was sampled once to assess the potential for EDCtransport through the lake.
A modest decline (less than 20 percent in all cases) in surface-water detections of EDCs was observed with increasing distance downstream of the WWTP and was attributed to the chemicals attaching (partitioning) to the sediment. The EDCs focused on in this study included natural estrogens (estrone, 17β–estradiol, and estriol) and detergent metabolites, which exhibit estrogenic properties. Concentrations of estrogens and detergent metabolites downstream of the WWTP remained elevated above levels observed at the upstream control site, indicating that the WWTP was the prominent source of these chemicals to the stream. The mean estrogen concentrations observed downstream of the WWTP were 5 nanograms per liter and higher, a level indicative of the potential for endocrine disruption in native fish.
Estrogens were not detected in the outflow of Spirit Lake, indicating that they were diluted, partitioned to lake sediments, or were degraded within the lake through a combination of microbial processes and/or photolysis. However, detergent metabolites were detected in the outflow of Spirit Lake, indicating the potential for EDC transport downstream.
The ongoing post–closure assessment at the Fort Gordon WWTP will provide more insight into the environmental persistence of EDCsover time and the potential for stream and lake bed sediment to serve as a long–term source of EDCs in stream ecosystems.
This research was funded by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area’s Environmental Health Program (Contaminant Biology and Toxic Substances Hydrology) and the Fort Gordon Environmental and Natural Resources Management Office of the U.S. Army.
USGS science related to this featured science activity.
Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Science Team
Hormones in Land-Applied Biosolids Could Affect Aquatic Organisms
Improvements in Wastewater Treatment Reduces Endocrine Disruption in Fish
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in the Slick Scum that Covers Stones in Streams
Evidence of Endocrine Disruption Unexpectedly Found in Minnesota Lakes
Estrogenic Contaminants from Plants and Fungi Found in Iowa Streams
Mixtures of Pesticides Detected in Crab Embryos
Hormones Degrade in the Environment!
Tackling Fish Endocrine Disruption
Below are publications associated with this Activities and Expertise.
- Overview
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) were transported 2 kilometers downstream of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) outfall in a coastal plain stream. EDCs persisted downstream of the outfall with little change in the numbers of EDCs and limited decreases in EDC concentrations.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists measured concentrations of select EDCs approximately 10 times in water and sediment from 2009 to 2011, at five sites in the Spirit Creek watershed near Fort Gordon, Georgia, as part of an assessment of the effects of the closure of a WWTP on EDC persistence.
Sites included a control site upstream of the WWTP outfall and four other sites in the 2–kilometer reach extending downstream to Spirit Lake, into which Spirit Creek flows. A site located at the outfall of Spirit Lake was sampled once to assess the potential for EDCtransport through the lake.
A modest decline (less than 20 percent in all cases) in surface-water detections of EDCs was observed with increasing distance downstream of the WWTP and was attributed to the chemicals attaching (partitioning) to the sediment. The EDCs focused on in this study included natural estrogens (estrone, 17β–estradiol, and estriol) and detergent metabolites, which exhibit estrogenic properties. Concentrations of estrogens and detergent metabolites downstream of the WWTP remained elevated above levels observed at the upstream control site, indicating that the WWTP was the prominent source of these chemicals to the stream. The mean estrogen concentrations observed downstream of the WWTP were 5 nanograms per liter and higher, a level indicative of the potential for endocrine disruption in native fish.
Estrogens were not detected in the outflow of Spirit Lake, indicating that they were diluted, partitioned to lake sediments, or were degraded within the lake through a combination of microbial processes and/or photolysis. However, detergent metabolites were detected in the outflow of Spirit Lake, indicating the potential for EDC transport downstream.
The ongoing post–closure assessment at the Fort Gordon WWTP will provide more insight into the environmental persistence of EDCsover time and the potential for stream and lake bed sediment to serve as a long–term source of EDCs in stream ecosystems.
This research was funded by the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area’s Environmental Health Program (Contaminant Biology and Toxic Substances Hydrology) and the Fort Gordon Environmental and Natural Resources Management Office of the U.S. Army.
- Science
USGS science related to this featured science activity.
Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Science Team
The team studies toxicants and pathogens in water resources from their sources, through watersheds, aquifers, and infrastructure to human and wildlife exposures. That information is used to develop decision tools that protect human and wildlife health.Filter Total Items: 20Hormones in Land-Applied Biosolids Could Affect Aquatic Organisms
Hormones from biosolids applied to fields may be present in rainfall runoff at concentrations that are high enough to impact the health of aquatic organisms if the runoff reaches streams, report scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Colorado State University in Environmental Science and Technology . Artificial rainfall runoff from agricultural test plots where biosolids were...Improvements in Wastewater Treatment Reduces Endocrine Disruption in Fish
A team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Colorado, and the City of Boulder, Colorado, demonstrated that improvements to the treatment process at a wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) reduced the level of endocrine disruption in fish exposed to wastewater effluent discharged from the facility. It is difficult to anticipate the effects that upgrading WWTF...Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in the Slick Scum that Covers Stones in Streams
The slick scum or biofilm that covers most rocks in streams can accumulate contaminants that disrupt reproductive and other endocrine systems in fish. This is the finding of a team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and University of Colorado Boulder scientists as described in a recent article in Environmental Science and Technology ( Writer and others, 2011 ). Biofilms are a mixture of algae...Evidence of Endocrine Disruption Unexpectedly Found in Minnesota Lakes
Endocrine disrupting chemicals and indicators of endocrine disruption were found in several Minnesota lakes with surrounding urban, residential, agricultural, and forested land uses. The lakes do not directly receive discharges from industries or wastewater-treatment plants; however, they are used for recreation, and they receive water from widely scattered sources. The presence of both male and...Estrogenic Contaminants from Plants and Fungi Found in Iowa Streams
An international group of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon, Research Station ART (Switzerland) have documented the common occurrence of six phytoestrogens and two mycotoxins in streams across Iowa. Phytoestrogens (derived from plants) and mycotoxins (derived from fungi) are naturally occurring compounds. Scientists have known that phytoestrogens...Mixtures of Pesticides Detected in Crab Embryos
Crab embryos from two Northern California salt marshes accumulate mixtures of currently used as well as discontinued pesticides, according to a study published by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and University of California scientists in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry .Hormones Degrade in the Environment!
In two separate studies, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists demonstrated that hormones such as estrogen can biodegrade in stream and groundwater environments. This is an important finding because the science, regulatory, and environmental communities have concerns about the environmental fate of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, such as hormones, in the human wastewaters discharged to the...Tackling Fish Endocrine Disruption
Intersex, the presence of both male and female characteristics within the same fish, is being observed in fish in more streams across the Nation. Intersex is one manifestation of endocrine disruption in fish. Endocrine disruption can result in adverse effects on the development of the brain and nervous system, the growth and function of the reproductive system, and the response to stressors in the... - Publications
Below are publications associated with this Activities and Expertise.