The drinking water for more than 28 million people was screened for a diverse group of pharmaceuticals, potential endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), and other unregulated organic contaminants. Source water, finished drinking water, and distribution system (tap) water from 19 U.S. water utilities was analyzed for 51 compounds between 2006 and 2007. The 11 most frequently detected compounds were atenolol, atrazine, carbamazepine, estrone, gemfibrozil, meprobamate, naproxen, phenytoin, sulfamethoxazole, TCEP, and trimethoprim. Median concentrations of these compounds were less than 10 ng/L, except for sulfamethoxazole in source water (12 ng/ L), TCEP in source water (120 ng/L), and atrazine in source, finished, and distribution system water (32, 49, and 49 ng/L). Atrazine was detected in source waters far removed from agricultural application where wastewater was the only known source of organic contaminants. The occurrence of compounds in finished drinking water was controlled by the type of chemical oxidation (ozone or chlorine) used at each plant. At one drinking water treatment plant, summed monthly concentrations of the detected analytes in source and finished water are reported. Atenolol, atrazine, DEET, estrone, meprobamate, and trimethoprim can serve as indicator compounds representing potential contamination from other pharmaceuticals and EDCs and can gauge the efficacy of treatment processes.

The potential occurrence of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) as well as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in drinking water supplies raises concern over the removal of these compounds by common drinking water treatment processes. Three drinking water supplies were spiked with 10 to 250 ng/L of 62 different EDC/ PPCPs; one model water containing an NOM isolate was spiked with 49 different EDC/PPCPs. Compounds were detected by LC/MS/MS or GC/MS/MS. These test waters were subjected to bench-scale experimentation to simulate individual treatment processes in a water treatment plant (WTP). Aluminum sulfate and ferric chloride coagulants or chemical lime softening removed some polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) but removed <25% of most other EDC/ PPCPs. Addition of 5 mg/L of powder activated carbon (PAC) with a 4-h contact time removed 50% to >98% of GC/ MS/MS compounds (more volatile) and 10% to >95% of LC/ MS/MS compounds (more polar); higher PAC dosages improved EDC/PPCP removal. EDC/PPCP percentage removal was independent of the initial compound concentration. Octanol-water partition coefficients served as a reasonable indicator of compound removal under controlled PAC test conditions, except for EDC/PPCPs that were protonated or deprotonated at the test pH and some that contained heterocyclic or aromatic nitrogen. Separate chlorine or ozone experiments decreased the EDC/PPCP initial concentration by <10% to >90%; EDC/PPCPs were likely transformed to oxidation byproducts. Ozone oxidized steroids containing phenolic moieties (estradiol, ethynylestradiol, or estrone) more efficiently than those without aromatic or phenolic moieties (androstenedione, progesterone, and testosterone). EDC/PPCP reactivity with oxidants were separated into three general groups: (1) compounds easily oxidized (>80% reacted) by chlorine are always oxidized at least as efficiently by ozone; (2) 6 of the -60 compounds (TCEP, BHC, chlordane, dieldrin, heptachlor epoxide, musk ketone) were poorly oxidized (<20% reacted) by chlorine or ozone; (3) compounds (24 of 60) reacting preferentially (higher removals) with ozone rather than chlorine. Conventional treatment (coagulation plus chlorination) would have low removal of many EDC/PPCPs, while addition of PAC and/or ozone could substantially improve their removals. Existing strategies that predict relative removals of herbicides, pesticides, and other organic pollutants by activated carbon or oxidation can be directly applied for the removal of many EDC/PPCPs, but these strategies need to be modified to account for charged (protonated bases or deprotonated acids) and aliphatic species. Some compounds (e.g., DEET, ibuprofen, gemfibrozil) had low removals unless ozonation was used. Other compounds had low removals by all the WTP processes considered (atrazine, iopromide, meprobamate, TCEP), and removal processes capable of removing these types of compounds should be investigated.

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Cyanobacteria are ubiquitous microorganisms considered as important contributors to the formation of Earth's atmosphere and nitrogen fixation. However, they are also frequently associated with toxic blooms. Indeed, the wide range of hepatotoxins, neurotoxins and dermatotoxins synthesized by these bacteria is a growing environmental and public health concern. This paper provides a state of the art on the occurrence and management of harmful cyanobacterial blooms in surface and drinking water, including economic impacts and research needs. Cyanobacterial blooms usually occur according to a combination of environmental factors e.g., nutrient concentration, water temperature, light intensity, salinity, water movement, stagnation and residence time, as well as several other variables. These environmental variables, in turn, have promoted the evolution and biosynthesis of strain-specific, gene-controlled metabolites (cyanotoxins) that are often harmful to aquatic and terrestrial life, including humans. Cyanotoxins are primarily produced intracellularly during the exponential growth phase. Release of toxins into water can occur during cell death or senescence but can also be due to evolutionary-derived or environmentally-mediated circumstances such as allelopathy or relatively sudden nutrient limitation. Consequently, when cyanobacterial blooms occur in drinking water resources, treatment has to remove both cyanobacteria (avoiding cell lysis and subsequent toxin release) and aqueous cyanotoxins previously released. Cells are usually removed with limited lysis by physical processes such as clarification or membrane filtration. However, aqueous toxins are usually removed by both physical retention, through adsorption on activated carbon or reverse osmosis, and chemical oxidation, through ozonation or chlorination. While the efficient oxidation of the more common cyanotoxins (microcystin, cylindrospermopsin, anatoxin and saxitoxin) has been extensively reported, the chemical and toxicological characterization of their by-products requires further investigation. In addition, future research should also investigate the removal of poorly considered cyanotoxins (β-methylamino-alanine, lyngbyatoxin or aplysiatoxin) as well as the economic impact of blooms.

Thousands of organic micropollutants and their transformation products occur in water. Although often present at low concentrations, individual compounds contribute to mixture effects. Cell-based bioassays that target health-relevant biological endpoints may therefore complement chemical analysis for water quality assessment. The objective of this study was to evaluate cell-based bioassays for their suitability to benchmark water quality and to assess efficacy of water treatment processes. The selected bioassays cover relevant steps in the toxicity pathways including induction of xenobiotic metabolism, specific and reactive modes of toxic action, activation of adaptive stress response pathways and system responses. Twenty laboratories applied 103 unique in vitro bioassays to a common set of 10 water samples collected in Australia, including wastewater treatment plant effluent, two types of recycled water (reverse osmosis and ozonation/activated carbon filtration), stormwater, surface water, and drinking water. Sixty-five bioassays (63%) showed positive results in at least one sample, typically in wastewater treatment plant effluent, and only five (5%) were positive in the control (ultrapure water). Each water type had a characteristic bioanalytical profile with particular groups of toxicity pathways either consistently responsive or not responsive across test systems. The most responsive health-relevant endpoints were related to xenobiotic metabolism (pregnane X and aryl hydrocarbon receptors), hormone-mediated modes of action (mainly related to the estrogen, glucocorticoid, and antiandrogen activities), reactive modes of action (genotoxicity) and adaptive stress response pathway (oxidative stress response). This study has demonstrated that selected cell-based bioassays are suitable to benchmark water quality and it is recommended to use a purpose-tailored panel of bioassays for routine monitoring.

For over 70 years, scientists have reported that certain synthetic and natural compounds could mimic natural hormones in the endocrine systems of animals. These substances are now collectively known as endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), and have been linked to a variety of adverse effects in both humans and wildlife. More recently, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have been discovered in various surface and ground waters, some of which have been linked to ecological impacts at trace concentrations. The majority of EDCs and PPCPs are more polar than traditional contaminants and several have acidic or basic functional groups. These properties, coupled with occurrence at trace levels (i.e., ,1 mg/L), create unique challenges for both removal processes and analytical detection. Reports of EDCs and PPCPs in water have raised substantial concern among the public and regulatory agencies; however, very little is known about the fate of these compounds during drinking and wastewater treatment. Numerous studies have shown that conventional drinking and wastewater treatment plants can not completely remove many EDCs and PPCPs. Oxidation with chlorine and ozone can result in transformation of some compounds with reactive functional groups under the conditions employed in water and wastewater treatment plants. Advanced treatment technologies, such as activated carbon and reverse osmosis, appear viable for the removal of many trace contaminants including EDCs and PPCPs. Future research needs include more detailed fate and transport data, standardized analytical methodology, predictive models, removal kinetics, and determination of the toxicological relevance of trace levels of EDCs and PPCPs in water.Key words: endocrine disruptor; pharmaceutical; drinking water; wastewater; treatment; review 449 ENDOCRINE DISRUPTING COMPOUNDS P ERHAPS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART of understanding the subject of endocrine disruption involves a definition of the term. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has defined environmental endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) as exogenous agents that interfere with the "synthesis, secretion, transport, binding, action, or elimi- nation of natural hormones in the body that are responsible for the maintenance of homeostasis, reproduction, development, and/or behavior" (EPA, 1997). However, definitions and opinions on what defines an EDC vary greatly. It is generally accepted that the three major classes of endocrine disruption endpoints are estrogenic (compounds that mimic or block natural estrogen), androgenic (compounds that mimic or block natural testosterone), and thyroidal (compounds with direct or indirect impacts to the thyroid). As we will illustrate, the majority of research thus far has focused only on estrogenic compounds; however, disruption of androgen and thyroid function may be of greater or equal importance biologically.Although the topic of endocrine disruption is considered an "emerging issue" in the water industry, scientists have known about the ability o...

A method has been developed for the trace analysis of 27 compounds from a diverse group of pharmaceuticals, steroids, pesticides, and personal care products. The method employs solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/ MS), using electrospray ionization (ESI) in both positive and negative modes and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization in positive mode. Unlike many previous methods, a single SPE procedure using 1 L of water coupled to a simple LC method is used for all ionization modes. Instrument detection limits for most compounds were below 1.0 pg on column with reporting limits of 1.0 ng/L in water. Recoveries for most compounds in deionized water were greater than 80%. Sulfuric acid was found to be the preferred sample preservative, and structures of all MS/MS product ions are proposed. Matrix effects from waters with a high content of treated municipal effluent were observed in both ESI modes and are discussed in the paper.In recent years, reports have shown that certain contaminants at trace concentrations in surface waters can have dramatic effects on the endocrine systems of aquatic organisms. 1-3 These compounds are collectively known as endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs). Pharmaceuticals, steroids, and personal care products have also been detected in the aquatic environment and may act as EDCs. [4][5][6] As environmental contaminants continue to be discovered, the need for comprehensive methods for their sensitive and selective identification has also increased. Traditional gas chromatography is of limited value without time-consuming and labor-intensive derivatization because many environmental contaminants are polar, have low volatility, and are thermally labile. This has led to the increased use of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) due to its ability to effectively analyze these types of molecules.LC/MS methods for the analysis of pharmaceuticals, steroids, and personal care products in water have been developed for a number of different mass spectrometers using diverse extraction procedures and elution protocols. A complete review of methods for the analysis of these compounds in water using LC/MS is beyond the scope of this paper, and thorough reviews have previously been published. [7][8][9] The majority of concentration techniques involve solid-phase extraction (SPE) in which many solid phases, eluent schemes, and final solvents with and without ionpairing reagents, buffers, and modifiers were used. 10-20 Additionally, both single quadrupole 11,15,16