Fate simulation and risk assessment of endocrine disrupting chemicals in a reservoir receiving recycled wastewater

A fugacity based model was applied to simulate the distribution of three endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) namely estrone (E1) 17 beta-estradiol (E2) and 17 alpha-ethynylestradiol (EE2) in a reservoir receiving recycled wastewater in Australia At typical conditions the majority of estrogens were removed by degradation in the water compartment A sensitivity analysis found that the simulated concentrations of El E2 and EE2 were equally sensitive to the parameters of temperature (T) reservoir water volume (V) and equivalent biomass concentration (EBC) but El was more sensitive to estrogen concentration in the recycled water (C-e) and recycling rate (F-r) In contrast all three estrogens were not sensitive to reservoir water releasing rate (F-d) Furthermore a probabilistic health risk assessment showed that the simulated concentrations were below fish exposure threshold value (ETV) and human public health standard (PHS) Human equivalent dose of EDCs from fish consumption was about 10 times higher than that from drinking water consumption The highest risk quotient among the three estrogens was found for EE2 with less than 9 5x 10(-2) implying negligible health risks (C) 2010 Elsevier BV All rights reserved