Occurrence, fate, and ecological risk assessment of bisphenol A, butylparaben, and diethyl‐phthalate in collection systems and the wastewater treatment plant of the urban area.

In the present work, wastewater treatment plants and collection systems from Nagpur, Central India were studied for frequently occurring endocrine disrupting chemicals. All the EDCs, such as bisphenol A, butylparaben, and diethyl phthalate were present in all the collected samples with a detection frequency of 100%. Laboratory analysis revealed high bisphenol A, butylparaben, and diethyl phthalate levels, with mean concentrations of 79.10, 4.12, and 2.25 μg/L, respectively, in influent samples and 33.20, 1.62, and 0.77 μg/L, respectively, in the effluent wastewater. The distribution of the emergent pollutants among the sampling locations was found to be consistent with the physicochemical characteristics of wastewater, according to the component analysis, and the sites with the highest levels of contamination were also identified. Finally, an ecological risk assessment was carried out for aquatic biota in terms of risk quotients. The risk quotients for the target chemicals in effluent wastewater suggested a minimal impact, except for the target insect Chrironomus riparius, which had a risk quotient value of 33.20 for bisphenol A. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]