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Occurrence, distribution and risk assessment of estrogenic compounds for three source water types in Ningbo City, China

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Abstract

This study evaluated the occurrence, distribution and risk assessment of nine estrogenic compounds found in 29 source water sites in Ningbo City, China. They included 21 reservoirs, five river sites and three wells. The nine estrogenic compounds included estrone (E1), 4-n-nonylphenol (NP), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), diethylstilbestrol (DES), estriol (E3), 17β-estradiol (E2), 4-t-octylphenol (OP), 17β-estradiol-17-valerate (EV), and bisphenol A (BPA). Generally, most of these estrogenic compounds were not detected in samples. Among estrogens detected, we found high concentrations of BPA up to μg/L levels while NP had the highest detection frequency of all estrogens in all samples. Samples taken from rivers had a higher detection frequency of estrogenic compounds than samples taken from reservoirs and wells. According to risk quotient (RQ) calculations for aquatic organisms living in source water contaminated by estrogenic compounds, the Fenghua and Yao rivers were at high risk. Results from this study can provide insight into selecting appropriate source water based on the accurate identification of compound and/or element contamination through the coupled analysis of their distribution and risk assessment.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. In addition, we would like to thank the students from Minnan Normal University and Wuyi University who participated in water sample collection. We also gratefully acknowledge the joint research funding we received from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41271484) and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2013J01166) as well as from the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences for Young Scientists in Frontier Research (IUEQN-2012-04). We also thank Brian Doonan for help in polishing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Dapeng Wang, Zhuanxi Luo, Xian Zhang, Lifeng Lin, Miaomiao Du & Changzhou Yan

  2. Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry and Applied Ecochemistry, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Gijs Du Laing

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  1. Dapeng Wang
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  2. Zhuanxi Luo
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  3. Xian Zhang
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  4. Lifeng Lin
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  5. Miaomiao Du
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  7. Changzhou Yan
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Correspondence to Zhuanxi Luo or Changzhou Yan.

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Wang, D., Luo, Z., Zhang, X. et al. Occurrence, distribution and risk assessment of estrogenic compounds for three source water types in Ningbo City, China. Environ Earth Sci 74, 5961–5969 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-4619-9

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