Elsevier

Chemosphere

Volume 247, May 2020, 125907
Chemosphere

Seasonal distribution, risks, and sources of endocrine disrupting chemicals in coastal waters: Will these emerging contaminants pose potential risks in marine environment at continental-scale?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.125907Get rights and content

Highlights

  • EDCs in coastal waters showed significant spatio-temporal variation.

  • EDCs in coastal waters exerted high ecological risks.

  • Average estradiol equivalent concentration of EDCs in winter/summer exceeded 1 ng/L.

  • Non-cancer risks posed by EDCs in coastal waters were negligible.

  • Wastewater and sewage might be the main source for EDCs in coastal waters.

Abstract

Coastal waters are the critical ecologically fragile regions under the influence of the fastest economic developing pace and the extensive anthropogenic activities in coastal zone. Little information on the seasonal distribution, risks, and sources of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which are emerging contaminants to pose potential risks at very low concentrations in coastal waters at continental-scale is available. This study investigated the coastline-based distribution, risks, and sources of target EDCs in coastal water of China. EDCs in coastal waters of China showed significant spatio-temporal variation with phenolic compounds serving as predominant EDCs. Bisphenol A (BPA) was detected in all water samples with average concentration of 449.2/186.3 ng/L in winter/summer while estrone was the main steroidal estrogen with the average concentration of 87.2/2.7 ng/L in winter/summer. EDCs in coastal waters of South China Sea Area showed higher concentrations. EDCs in coastal waters exerted high ecological risks and estrone/BPA averagely accounted for over 61%/71% of total risk quotient in winter/summer. Average estradiol equivalent concentration of all target EDCs reached 68.87/1.76 ng/L in winter/summer. EDCs in coastal waters did not pose potential non-cancer health risks for humans. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was firstly used to identify and quantify possible sources of EDCs. The PMF analysis showed that wastewater and sewage might be the main source for EDCs in coastal waters. EDCs in coastal waters showed high estradiol equivalent concentration and ecological risks at continental-scale, highlighting that EDCs contamination has become a crucial stress affecting the sustainable development of coastal regions.

Introduction

Coastal zone provides living environment for over 50% of human population in the world (Dennison, 2008). Coastal water is important for ecological safety and human health in coastal zone so that coastal water quality has attracted wide attention (Lu et al., 2018, 2019a,b; Pignotti and Dinelli, 2018). Coastal water pollution induced by different pollutants frequently occurs along coastline and shows significant spatial variation (Lu et al., 2018, 2019a; 2019b). However, information on distribution and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which are emerging contaminants to induce feminization of aquatic organisms even at ng/L level (Hansen et al., 1998) in coastal water at continental-scale is not available. Most of studies mainly focused on occurrence of EDCs in a local coastal area only in a season (Lopes et al., 2016; Pignotti and Dinelli, 2018; Pojana et al., 2007).

EDCs generally include natural estrogens and synthesized chemicals showing estrogenic activity. Estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), and estriol (E3) are 3 steroidal estrogens naturally existing in human/animal bodies while 17-α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) is synthesized mainly for birth control (Lu et al., 2012). Bisphenol A (BPA), 4-nonylphenol (4-NP), and 4-tert-octylphenol (4-t-OP) are environmental xenoestrogens synthesized with high production volume (Lu et al., 2012; Sheikh et al., 2017). EDCs widely exist in various matrices such as sediments, water, soils, air, and biota (Lu et al., 2012; Philip et al., 2018; Pojana et al., 2007), possibly posing potential risks to the ecosystems and human health.

Environmental pollution has become a crucial stress affecting the critical ecologically fragile regions such as the coastal zone due to the rapid economic development and extensive anthropogenic activities (Lu et al., 2018, 2019a, 2019b; Wu et al., 2019). Coastal waters are the critical ecologically fragile regions under the influence of the fastest economic developing pace and the extensive anthropogenic activities in coastal zone (Lu et al., 2018). Little information on the distribution, risks, and sources of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in coastal waters at continental-scale is available. Source apportionment and risk assessment has become increasingly important for control of emerging contaminants including EDCs (Huang et al., 2012; Lu et al., 2019a). It is still not clear how the different sources contribute to EDCs in coastal waters. Therefore, this study performed field investigation, risk assessment, and source apportionment to discuss the distribution, potential risks, and possible sources of EDCs in coastal waters along the 18,000 km coastline of China during dry and wet seasons. The final objective is to provide new comprehensive information on the continental-scale distribution, risks, and sources of endocrine disrupting chemicals in coastal waters, which is of great importance on the effective management and control of EDCs contamination in coastal zone.

Section snippets

Sampling strategy, chemicals, and sample pretreatment

Water samples were collected from 32 sites along the 18,000 km coastline of China in winter (November of 2017) and summer (June and July of 2018). The sampling sites belonged to Yellow Sea Area marked as Y, Bohai Area marked as B, and East/South China Sea Area marked as E/S (Fig. 1a). The most of sampling sites were close to the cities. Sampling strategy referred to the previous report (Lu et al., 2019a). Each water sample was composed of 6 sub-samples (6 × 5 L). Measurement of total organic

Coastline-based distribution of target EDCs in coastal waters at a continental-scale

Target EDCs in coastal waters showed significant temporal variations at a continental-scale (Fig. 1b and c). EDCs in coastal waters generally possessed higher concentrations in winter. The average total concentration of all target EDCs in coastal waters reached 580.0 ng/L in winter and 193.6 ng/L in summer. Phenolic EDCs were the predominant EDCs detected in coastal waters, averagely accounting for 78.94%/96.24% of total target EDCs in winter/summer. BPA was detected in all water samples with

Discussion

Comprehensive insight on EDCs contamination in coastal waters at a continental scale was obtained from this investigation. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first comprehensive study on EDCs in coastal environments in different seasons at a continental scale. Most of studies mainly focused on occurrence of EDCs in a local coastal area only in a season (Lopes et al., 2016; Pignotti and Dinelli, 2018; Pojana et al., 2007). According to the EEQs and ecological risk assessment at a

Conclusions

Target EDCs in coastal waters showed significant spatio-temporal variation in coastal waters along continental-scale coastline. Phenolic chemicals were the dominant EDCs in coastal waters and BPA was detected in all water samples in both winter and summer with relatively high concentrations. Estrone was the predominant steroidal EDC detected in coastal water samples. EDCs in coastal waters posed very high ecological risks with estrone/BPA serving as the predominant risk contributor in

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (41671319), Taishan Scholar Program of Shandong Province (No. tsqn201812116), One Hundred Talents Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y629041021), and Two-Hundred Talents Plan of Yantai (Y739011021). The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments on the manuscript.

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