Additional Treatment of Wastewater Reduces Endocrine Disruption in Wild Fish-A Comparative Study of Tertiary and Advanced Treatments

Steroid estrogens are thought to be the major cause of feminization (intersex) in wild fish. Widely used wastewater treatment technologies are not effective at removing these contaminants to concentrations thought to be required to protect aquatic wildlife. A number of advanced treatment processes have been proposed to reduce the concentrations of estrogens entering the environment. Before investment is made in such processes, it is imperative that we compare their efficacy in terms of removal of steroid estrogens and their feminizing effects with other treatment options. This study assessed both steroid removal and intersex induction in adult and early life stage fish (roach, Rutilus rutilus). Roach were exposed directly to either secondary (activated sludge process (ASP)), tertiary (sand filtrated (SF)), or advanced (chlorine dioxide (ClO2), granular activated charcoal (GAC)) treated effluents for six months. Surprisingly, both the advanced GAC and tertiary SF treatments (but not the ClO2 treatment) significantly removed the intersex induction associated with the ASP effluent; this was not predicted by the steroid estrogen measurements, which were higher in the tertiary SF than either the GAC or the ClO2. Therefore our study highlights the importance of using both biological and chemical analysis when assessing new treatment technologies.