HA6 Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in Wastewater Treatment Effluents
202 Oregon Ballroom
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Thursday
() Environmental Occurrence, Transport, and Fate of Endocrine-Disrupting Compounds from Non-potable Reuse of Municipal Wastewater.
Hudson, G.1, Beller, H.1, Moody Bartel, C.1, Kane, S.1, Grayson, A.1, Burastero, S.1, 1 University of California - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
ABSTRACT- Water recycling projects for non-potable reuse, such as landscape irrigation, have been widely accepted and implemented. In these non-potable reuse projects, wastewater is filtered and disinfected, but dissolved compounds are not completely removed. There are a variety of trace organic compounds, including pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors, whose impacts are largely unknown. Endocrine disruptors, a group of hormonally active agents, are of emerging concern to the regulatory and engineering community. This research investigated the source, occurrence, fate, and transport of selected endocrine disruptors, including 4-nonylphenol (NP), which could be released into the environment through non-potable municipal wastewater reuse at a golf course in Livermore, CA. Groundwater samples were collected from six monitoring wells located at the golf course. A suite of analytical techniques was employed to characterize collected groundwater samples as well as tertiary-treated wastewater effluent samples. Tritium and its daughter 3He were measured to establish sample chronology. Results indicate that the groundwater sample ages ranged from 4 to 25 years, and tritium concentrations indicated the presence of recycled water. Aliquots of groundwater were pre-concentrated using solid phase extraction and target compounds were analyzed by isotope dilution liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Irrigation water had NP concentrations of 1 to 10 
g/L, but NP was not detected in groundwater (<0.011 
g/L). Metabolic NP precursors, nonylphenol ethoxy carboxylates, were detected in irrigation water between 25 and 100 g/L and in groundwater at concentrations ranging from non-detect to 0.2 g/L. This study at a hydrologically well-characterized site illustrates that alkylphenol ethoxylate surfactant metabolites present in the applied irrigation water were highly attenuated during infiltration.
Key words: endocrine-disrupting compounds, liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry, wastewater effluent, nonylphenol