Hormones in Land-Applied Biosolids Could Affect Aquatic Organisms / Household Chemicals and Drugs Found in Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment Plants

Hormones in Land-Applied Biosolids Could Affect Aquatic Organisms

Scientists setting up equipment used to apply artificial rainfall to a small test plot on a field that received an application of biosolids. The scientists captured the runoff from the plot for later chemical analysis. Photo credit: V. Cory Stephens, USGS.
(Larger version)

Hormones from biosolids applied to fields may be present in rainfall runoff at concentrations that are high enough to impact the health of aquatic organisms if the runoff reaches streams, report scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Colorado State University in Environmental Science and Technology. Artificial rainfall runoff from agricultural test plots where biosolids were applied as fertilizer contained several different hormones (estrogens, androgens, and progesterone). The occurrence of natural and synthetic hormones in streams is a growing concern because low part-per-trillion concentrations of these chemicals have caused endocrine disruption in aquatic organisms. The study results could help wastewater-treatment-plant, water-resource, and wildlife managers design management practices that limit the impacts of biosolids application on streams and aquatic organisms.
Biosolids are created from the sludge generated by the treatment of sewage at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and are known to contain natural and synthetic hormones. Biosolids are frequently applied to agricultural fields to manage the large quantities of biosolids generated by WWTPs and to improve soil nutrient and water retention characteristics. The team of scientists collaborated with a local farmer to assess the potential for seventeen different hormones (including androgens, estrogens, and progestogens) and two sterols (waxy compounds such as cholesterol) to occur in the rainfall runoff from a winter wheat field in eastern Colorado where biosolids were applied. Small test plots (6 by 6 meters) were identified both before and after biosolids application. The scientists then created artificial rain events and collected the rainfall runoff from the test plots for later chemical analysis. The winter wheat field with the test plots had no prior history of biosolid applications.
Runoff samples collected prior to biosolids application had low concentrations of two hormones (estrone as much as 2.23 nanograms per liter (ng/L) and androstenedione as much as 1.54 ng/L). In contrast, significantly higher concentrations of multiple estrogens (as much as 25.0 ng/L), androgens (as much as 216 ng/L), and progesterone (as much as 98.9 ng/L) were observed in runoff samples taken 1, 8, and 35 days after biosolids application. The observed concentrations, if they reached streams without being diluted or absorbed, are high enough to impact the health of susceptible fish. These results demonstrate that rainfall has the potential to mobilize hormones from agricultural fields where biosolids have been applied.
The USGS's Toxic Substances Hydrology Program and National Water Quality Laboratory, the Colorado Water Institute, the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program, and Colorado State University funded this study.

References

Yang, Y.-Y., Gray, J.L., Furlong, E.T., Davis, J.G., ReVello, R.C., and Borch, T., 2012, Steroid hormone runoff from agricultural test plots applied with municipal biosolids: Environmental Science and Technology, v. 46, no. 5, p. 2746-2754, doi:10.1021/es203896t.

More Information

• Land Application of Municipal Biosolids, Emerging Contaminants Investigation

Related Headlines

• Biological Activity of Steroid Hormones in U.S. Streams
• Chemical Combo and Intersex Fish Found at Smallmouth Bass Nesting Sites
• Improvements in Wastewater Treatment Reduces Endocrine Disruption in Fish
• New Knowledge on the Fate and Transport of Emerging Contaminants in Rivers
• Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in the Slick Scum that Covers Stones in Streams
• Estrogenic Contaminants from Plants and Fungi Found in Iowa Streams
• Hormones Degrade in the Environment!
• Tackling Fish Endocrine Disruption
• Measuring Antidepressants, Fungicides, and Insecticides in the Environment
• Biosolids, Animal Manure, and Earthworms: Is There a Connection?
• Endocrine Disruption Found in Fish Exposed to Municipal Wastewater
• Household Chemicals and Drugs Found in Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment Plants

http://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/biosolids_runoff.html

Household Chemicals and Drugs Found in Biosolids from Wastewater Treatment Plants

Biosolids are the sludge generated by the treatment of sewage at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). WWTPs produce a variety of biosolids products for agricultural, landscape, and home use. Depicted in the diagram is an activated sludge tank at a wastewater treatment plant (upper left) and a holding area for biosolids (lower right). (The two photos are not from the same facility.) (Click on photo for larger version)

Biosolids, the treated sludge generated by the treatment of sewage at wastewater treatment plants, is something that most people don't think about as they flush everyday chemicals and drugs down the drain. However, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists found that biosolids contain relatively high concentrations (hundreds of milligrams per kilogram) of the active ingredients commonly found in a variety of household products and drugs.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the United States generate approximately
7 million dry tons of biosolids each year. Since biosolids are rich in plant nutrients, farmers, landscapers, and homeowners use about 50 percent of the annual production of biosolids as fertilizer for plants. Biosolids must meet standards for nutrient, metal, and pathogen content before it can be used to fertilize plants and to improve the quality of soil. Because a variety of pharmaceuticals and other household chemicals have been found in the wastewater discharged from WWTPs, questions have been raised about the presence of these chemicals in biosolids. To help answer the questions the scientists purchased or obtained nine different commercially or publicly available biosolids and analyzed them for 87 organic chemicals found in cleaners, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and other products. They found:

• Fifty-five of the 87 organic chemicals measured were detected in at least one of the nine biosolids collected, with as many as 45 chemicals found in a single sample.
• Twenty-five of the chemicals were present in every biosolid sample including compounds that are pharmaceutically and hormonally active, such as an antimicrobial disinfectant (triclosan), a musk fragrance (tonalide), an antihistamine (diphenhydramine), and an antiepileptic drug (carbamazepine).

• A scientist (now with Colorado State University-Pueblo) preparing samples of biosolids for extraction using accelerated solvent extraction. The samples were analyzed for a broad suite of emerging contaminants. (Click on photo for larger version)

  Total summed concentrations ranged from 64 to 1,811 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg or parts-per-million), with many individual contaminants in the hundreds of mg/kg range.
• The biosolids were more similar than they were different, even though they were produced by a variety of treatment processes from plants serving vastly different sized cities and towns. The types of contaminants and their relation to each other did not vary greatly between the biosolids tested.

This is the first comprehensive examination of biosolids, and the results indicate that biosolids have high concentrations of these emerging contaminants compared to treated liquid wastewater effluent. What is not known at present is the transport, fate, and potential ecological effects of these contaminants once biosolids are applied to agricultural fields, garden plots, and landscaped plants and shrubs.

Reference

Kinney, C.A., Furlong, E.T., Zaugg, S.D., Burkhardt, M.R., Werner, S.L., Cahill, J.D., and Jorgensen, G.R., 2006, Survey of organic wastewater contaminants in biosolids destined for land application: Environmental Science and Technology, v. 40, no. 23, p. 7207-7215, doi:10.1021/es0603406.

http://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/biosolids.html

More Information

• The 25 Chemicals Found in All Nine Biosolids Studied
• Land Application of Municipal Biosolids, Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Investigation

Related Headlines

• Hormones in Land-Applied Biosolids Could Affect Aquatic Organisms
• Improvements in Wastewater Treatment Reduces Endocrine Disruption in Fish
• Do Combined Sewer Overflows Increase or Decrease Wastewater-Related Chemicals in Receiving Waters?
• Hormones Degrade in the Environment!
• Antidepressants in Stream Waters! Are They in the Fish Too?
• Manufacturing Facilities Release Pharmaceuticals to the Environment
• Measuring Antidepressants, Fungicides, and Insecticides in the Environment
• Detergents in Streams May Just Disappear
• Emerging Contaminants Targeted in a Reconnaissance of Ground Water and Untreated Drinking-Water Sources
• Biosolids, Animal Manure, and Earthworms: Is There a Connection?
• Wastewater Indicators Shown to Degrade in Streams
• Endocrine Disruption Found in Fish Exposed to Municipal Wastewater
• Pharmaceuticals Found in Soil Irrigated with Reclaimed Water  
• Are Pharmaceuticals in Your Watershed? Understanding the Fate of Pharmaceuticals and Other Contaminants in Watersheds
• Book Chapter on Exposure Modeling and Monitoring of Human Pharmaceuticals in the Environment
• Glyphosate Found in Wastewater Discharged to Streams
• Tracing Wastewater - Using Unique Compounds to Identify Sources of Contamination
• USGS Scientists Contribute to New Book on Pharmaceuticals in the Environment
• USGS Scientists Develop New Method to Measure Pharmaceuticals in Water
• Developing Methods to Measure New Contaminants in Aquatic Environments
• Glyphosate Herbicide Found in Many Midwestern Streams, Antibiotics Not Common
• National Reconnaissance of Pharmaceuticals, Hormones and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in U.S. Streams is Making an Impact
• "National Reconnaissance of Pharmaceuticals, Hormones, and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in Streams" Named as One of the Top 100 Science Stories of the Year
• What's in Our Wastewaters and Where Does it Go?

http://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/biosolids.html