Title: Occurrence, seasonality, and risk assessment of (anti)estrogenic compounds in bankside groundwater in Wuchang City, China

Authors: Jian Li; Rongfang Wang; Hedan Liu; Chenglian Feng

Addresses: Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China ' Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China ' Engineering Research Center of Groundwater Pollution Control and Remediation, Ministry of Education, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China ' State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China

Abstract: Riverbank filtration (RBF) is widely used in drinking water supplies. This work highlights the importance of assessing the quality of bankside groundwater through evaluation of the potential health risks using recombinant estrogen receptor (ER) gene yeast assays in conjunction with a novel risk assessment approach. While none of the water samples collected from Wuchang City, China exhibited ER agonistic activity, they all demonstrated (anti-)estrogenic activity. The bioassay-derived 4-hydroxytamoxifen equivalents (HTQs) ranged from 0.29 μg/L to 44.43 μg/L, which decreased after RBF treatment. For the bankside groundwater samples, the HTQ values were higher during the rainy season than during any other season, showing that climate change has the potential to affect the quality of bankside groundwater. A risk assessment was performed, and the results suggested that (anti-)estrogenic endocrine disruptors will have a low impact on human health.

Keywords: bankside groundwater; riverbank filtration; climate change; water quality; health risk; in vitro; estrogen receptor; endocrine-disrupting chemicals; recombinant gene yeast assays; risk assessment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2020.119671

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2020 Vol.68 No.1/2, pp.41 - 58

Accepted: 30 Jul 2020
Published online: 14 Dec 2021 *

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