Endocrine activity in hospital, WWTP effluent, and Zenne River waters from the Brussels region, Belgium using the BG1Luc4E2 CALUX bioassay

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are gaining in worldwide attention due to their omnipresence, wide range in chemical properties and possible effects on wildlife populations. Problems with these EDCs are their continuous release into the environment (industrial, domestic, inefficient removal). For this reason, the Water Framework Directive (amended in 2013/39/EU) established a priority list of 33 new and 8 old pollutants and also placed 15 compounds (including estrogens) onto a watch list. Rather than looking solely for concentrations of targeted and well-known EDCs, this project strives to combine bio-analytical and chemo-analytical data on the Zenne river crossing Brussels and hospital effluents (a potential major source for EDCs due to high consumption of pharmaceuticals and personal care products) for the first time. Bioassays allow scientists to use in vitro receptor models to assess endocrine activity by comparing the mixture or cocktail effect originating from the sample extract. Samples areextracted using Oasis HLB SPE columns and analyzed with human ovarian adenocarcinoma (BG1) cells transfected with a luciferase reporter gene (BG1Luc4E2 CALUX assay). Over a 12 month sampling period, bioassay values ranged from 0.68 to 16.53ng EEQ/L for the Zenne river water and from 67.40 to 231ng EEQ/L for hospital effluent. WWTP effluent values ranged from 0.96 - 6.62ng EEQ/L and influent levels from 17.6 - 88.8ng EEQ/L. Results indicate that effluent values are high post-discharge of human activities, EDCs are only partially removed by processes in WWTPs, and that effluents can contribute significantly to EDC loads in the Zenne river.