The significance of hazardous chemicals in wastewater treatment works effluents.

The advent of increasingly stringent and wider ranging European Union legislation relating to water and the environment has required regulators to assess compliance risk and to respond by formulating appropriate pollution control measures. To support this process the UK Water Industry has completed a national Chemicals Investigation Programme (CIP), to monitor over 160 wastewater treatment works (WwTWs) for 70 determinands. Final effluent concentrations of zinc, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(g,h,i)perylene and indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene), "penta" congeners (BDEs) 47 and 99, tributyltin, triclosan, erythromycin, oxytetracycline, ibuprofen, propranolol, fluoxetine, diclofenac, 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethinyl estradiol exceeded existing or proposed Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs) in over 50% of WwTWs. Dilution by receiving water might ensure compliance with EQSs for these chemicals, apart from the BDEs. However, in some cases there will be insufficient dilution to ensure compliance and additional management options may be required.

[1]  A. Fernández-Alba,et al.  Occurrence and persistence of organic emerging contaminants and priority pollutants in five sewage treatment plants of Spain: two years pilot survey monitoring. , 2012, Environmental pollution.

[2]  E. Michael Thurman,et al.  Response to Comment on “Pharmaceuticals, Hormones, and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in U.S. Streams, 1999−2000: A National Reconnaissance” , 2002 .

[3]  Colin R. Janssen,et al.  Development and field validation of a biotic ligand model predicting chronic copper toxicity to Daphnia magna , 2004, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[4]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[5]  P S Mikkelsen,et al.  Water management in cities of the future using emission control strategies for priority hazardous substances. , 2011, Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research.

[6]  J. N. Lester,et al.  A recent history of metal accumulation in the sediments of the Thames Estuary, United Kingdom , 1997 .

[7]  M. Kendall,et al.  Rank Correlation Methods , 1949 .

[8]  Elise Cartmell,et al.  Removal of steroid estrogens in carbonaceous and nitrifying activated sludge processes. , 2010, Chemosphere.

[9]  S.D.W. Comber,et al.  Copper and zinc water quality standards under the EU Water Framework Directive: the use of a tiered approach to estimate the levels of failure. , 2008, The Science of the total environment.

[10]  John N. Lester,et al.  Significance and behaviour of heavy metals in waste water treatment processes I. Sewage treatment and effluent discharge , 1983 .

[11]  Hung-Suck Park,et al.  Occurrence and removal of antibiotics, hormones and several other pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment plants of the largest industrial city of Korea. , 2011, The Science of the total environment.

[12]  M. Gardner,et al.  Towards the establishment of an environmental quality standard for aluminium in surface waters. , 2008, Journal of environmental monitoring : JEM.

[13]  Other.  Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of The Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a Framework for Community Action in the Field of Water Policy (Water Framework Directive) , 2000 .

[14]  John N. Lester,et al.  Estimates of the inputs of polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine insecticides to the River Thames derived from the sediment record , 1997, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[15]  J. Yen,et al.  Interaction of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) with anaerobic mixed bacterial cultures isolated from river sediment. , 2009, Journal of hazardous materials.

[16]  Mario Schirmer,et al.  Micropollutant loads in the urban water cycle. , 2010, Environmental science & technology.

[17]  B Rosenblum.  Environmental quality standards. , 1972, Science.

[18]  Cyrus Feldman,et al.  Preservation of dilute mercury solutions , 1974 .

[19]  J N Lester,et al.  Organic contaminants in the aquatic environment. IV. Analytical techniques. , 1983, The Science of the total environment.

[20]  M. Scrimshaw,et al.  Fate and Behaviour of Alkylphenols and their Poly-ethoxylates in an Activated Sludge Plant 1 , 2007 .

[21]  Dean Leverett,et al.  Sample Stability of Trace Priority Substances in Wastewater , 2012 .

[22]  J. N. Lester,et al.  Determination of Chlorinated Phenols in Water, Wastewater, and Wastewater Sludge by Capillary GC/ECD , 1984 .

[23]  Norbert Kreuzinger,et al.  Upgrading Vienna's wastewater treatment plant - linking point source emissions to Environmental Quality Standards. , 2012, Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research.

[24]  Kevin C. Jones,et al.  Sources, fate, behaviour and effects of organic chemicals at the regional and global scale. , 2007 .

[25]  Elise Cartmell,et al.  Fate of alkylphenolic compounds during activated sludge treatment: impact of loading and organic composition. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[26]  John N. Lester,et al.  Organic contaminants in the aquatic environment I. Sources and occurrence , 1982 .

[27]  Charles A. Nittrouer,et al.  Dispersal of river sediments in coastal seas: Six contrasting cases , 1995 .

[28]  R. Robinson,et al.  Œstrogenic Activity of Certain Synthetic Compounds , 1938, Nature.

[29]  John N. Lester,et al.  Organic contaminants in the aquatic environment II. Behaviour and fate in the hydrological cycle , 1983 .

[30]  B. Jefferson,et al.  Nonylphenol in the environment: a critical review on occurrence, fate, toxicity and treatment in wastewaters. , 2008, Environment international.

[31]  Bruce K Hope,et al.  A state-wide survey in Oregon (USA) of trace metals and organic chemicals in municipal effluent. , 2012, The Science of the total environment.

[32]  J. Cortina,et al.  Presence and biological effects of emerging contaminants in Llobregat River basin: a review. , 2012, Environmental pollution.

[33]  John N. Lester,et al.  Significance and behaviour of heavy metals in waste water treatment processes II. Sludge treatment and disposal , 1983 .

[34]  E. Thurman,et al.  Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, 1999-2000: a national reconnaissance. , 2002, Environmental science & technology.

[35]  John P Sumpter,et al.  Protecting aquatic organisms from chemicals: the harsh realities , 2009, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

[36]  Soledad Muniategui-Lorenzo,et al.  Emerging pollutants in sewage, surface and drinking water in Galicia (NW Spain). , 2012, Chemosphere.

[37]  J N Lester,et al.  Supercritical fluid extraction of s-triazines and phenylurea herbicides from sediment. , 1994, Environmental science & technology.

[38]  J. Choubert,et al.  Occurrence and fate of relevant substances in wastewater treatment plants regarding Water Framework Directive and future legislations. , 2012, Water science and technology : a journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research.