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. 2014 Jan 16:4:3731.
doi: 10.1038/srep03731.

Wastewater treatment plants as chemical observatories to forecast ecological and human health risks of manmade chemicals

Arjun K Venkatesan  1 , Rolf U Halden  1
Affiliations

Wastewater treatment plants as chemical observatories to forecast ecological and human health risks of manmade chemicals

Arjun K Venkatesan et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Thousands of chemicals have been identified as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), but prioritizing them concerning ecological and human health risks is challenging. We explored the use of sewage treatment plants as chemical observatories to conveniently identify persistent and bioaccumulative CECs, including toxic organohalides. Nationally representative samples of sewage sludge (biosolids) were analyzed for 231 CECs, of which 123 were detected. Ten of the top 11 most abundant CECs in biosolids were found to be high-production volume chemicals, eight of which representing priority chemicals, including three flame retardants, three surfactants and two antimicrobials. A comparison of chemicals detected in nationally representative biological specimens from humans and municipal biosolids revealed 70% overlap. This observed co-occurrence of contaminants in both matrices suggests that the analysis of sewage sludge can inform human health risk assessments by providing current information on toxic exposures in human populations and associated body burdens of harmful environmental pollutants.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Fate and transport of anthropogenic chemicals through human society and the built wastewater environment (Courtesy: Arizona State University).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Annual mass of U.S. biosolids and of emerging contaminants sequestered in biosolids following municipal wastewater treatment, including sludge digestion. Numbers in parenthesis represent the number of chemicals detected in each chemical group. Refer to the text for a definition of acronyms used. (b) Occurrence in biosolids of chemicals detected in excess of 1000 μg/kg-dw and their corresponding annual U.S. production volumes. Labels to the right identify primary chemical uses and the percentage of production mass that becomes sequestered in biosolids. Dotted vertical line represents the annual production volume required for HPV classification (450,000 kg or 1 million U.S. pounds/year). Error bars represent the upper limit of average biosolids load and production volume, respectively.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Classification of 123 chemicals detected in biosolids based on abundance in biosolids and on n-octanol water partition coefficient (KOW).
Numbers represent highly abundant chemicals: (1) BDE-209, (2) BTBPE, (3) BDE-99, (4) NP, (5) NP1EO, (6) NP2EO, (7) triclocarban, (8) triclosan, (9) azithromycin, (10) ciprofloxacin, (11) ofloxacin. The shaded region in the top right is populated by priority CECs of high abundance and high bioaccumulation potential.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Comparison of organic chemicals detected in biosolids (from present study and EPA's national sludge survey together) and in human samples from the national report on human exposure to environmental chemicals study by CDC, representing the U.S. population. The hashed portion represents the common chemicals detected in both biosolids and humans. (b) Comparison of lipid-normalized concentration of the 34 chemicals detected in human serum and biosolids samples. Analytes with available geometric mean concentrations in human serum were compared with mean concentrations detected in biosolids. For analytes with unavailable mean concentration in human serum, 95th percentile values were compared.
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