Steroid-based tracing of sewage-sourced pollution of river water and wastewater treatment efficiency: Dissolved and suspended water phase distribution
Abstract
In this work, the environmental distribution of steroid compounds and the level of sewage-derived contamination were assessed using sterol ratios in the confluence area of two major rivers in the Serbian capital, where raw sewage is discharged without any treatment. Special attention was paid to steroids partitioning between the dissolved and suspended phases of river and wastewater samples, since steroids tend to easily bind to particulate matter. The efficiency of sterol removal in two wastewater treatment plants in Serbia was also evaluated. Human/animal sterols coprostanol and cholesterol, and phytosterol β-sitosterol were the dominant compounds in all water samples. The sterol abundance pattern in river water was different from that in raw sewage, indicating a more pronounced biogenic input, as well as greater impact of wastewater discharges on the composition of the suspended phase. Severe contamination of the investigated area was determined, with the Danube being more contamina...ted than the Sava River due to different hydrodynamic conditions leading to significantly higher sterol levels in the suspended particulate matter. It was also shown that the greater part of human/animal sterols and phytosterols present in river water samples (83.0 ± 11.9 % and 87.1 ± 15.2 %) and wastewater samples (92.1 ± 6.8 % and 95.0 ± 5.7 %) was bound to suspended material compared to the dissolved phase, emphasizing the need to consider and analyze both water phases in the tracing of steroid-based environmental pollution in order to obtain a realistic picture of steroid contamination and their fate in the aquatic environment. A high removal rate (>98 %) of coprostanol and cholesterol during wastewater treatment was determined and only the coprostanol/(coprostanol + cholestanol) ratio was found to be sensitive enough to be affected by an improvement in the quality of treated wastewater.
Keywords:
Steroid hormones / Sterol ratios / Sterols / Surface water / Suspended particulate matter / WastewaterSource:
Science of the Total Environment, 2022, 846, 157510-Publisher:
- Elsevier B.V.
Funding / projects:
- Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia, Grant no. 200135 (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy) (RS-200135)
- Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Republic of Serbia, Grant no. 200287 (Innovation Center of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy) (RS-200287)
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157510
ISSN: 0048-9697
WoS: 00084199570001
Scopus: 2-s2.0-85134832571
Collections
Institution/Community
Inovacioni centarTY - JOUR AU - Jauković, Zorica AU - Grujić, Svetlana AU - Bujagić Matić, Ivana AU - Petković, Anđelka AU - Laušević, Mila PY - 2022 UR - http://TechnoRep.tmf.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/5189 AB - In this work, the environmental distribution of steroid compounds and the level of sewage-derived contamination were assessed using sterol ratios in the confluence area of two major rivers in the Serbian capital, where raw sewage is discharged without any treatment. Special attention was paid to steroids partitioning between the dissolved and suspended phases of river and wastewater samples, since steroids tend to easily bind to particulate matter. The efficiency of sterol removal in two wastewater treatment plants in Serbia was also evaluated. Human/animal sterols coprostanol and cholesterol, and phytosterol β-sitosterol were the dominant compounds in all water samples. The sterol abundance pattern in river water was different from that in raw sewage, indicating a more pronounced biogenic input, as well as greater impact of wastewater discharges on the composition of the suspended phase. Severe contamination of the investigated area was determined, with the Danube being more contaminated than the Sava River due to different hydrodynamic conditions leading to significantly higher sterol levels in the suspended particulate matter. It was also shown that the greater part of human/animal sterols and phytosterols present in river water samples (83.0 ± 11.9 % and 87.1 ± 15.2 %) and wastewater samples (92.1 ± 6.8 % and 95.0 ± 5.7 %) was bound to suspended material compared to the dissolved phase, emphasizing the need to consider and analyze both water phases in the tracing of steroid-based environmental pollution in order to obtain a realistic picture of steroid contamination and their fate in the aquatic environment. A high removal rate (>98 %) of coprostanol and cholesterol during wastewater treatment was determined and only the coprostanol/(coprostanol + cholestanol) ratio was found to be sensitive enough to be affected by an improvement in the quality of treated wastewater. PB - Elsevier B.V. T2 - Science of the Total Environment T1 - Steroid-based tracing of sewage-sourced pollution of river water and wastewater treatment efficiency: Dissolved and suspended water phase distribution SP - 157510 VL - 846 DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157510 ER -
@article{ author = "Jauković, Zorica and Grujić, Svetlana and Bujagić Matić, Ivana and Petković, Anđelka and Laušević, Mila", year = "2022", abstract = "In this work, the environmental distribution of steroid compounds and the level of sewage-derived contamination were assessed using sterol ratios in the confluence area of two major rivers in the Serbian capital, where raw sewage is discharged without any treatment. Special attention was paid to steroids partitioning between the dissolved and suspended phases of river and wastewater samples, since steroids tend to easily bind to particulate matter. The efficiency of sterol removal in two wastewater treatment plants in Serbia was also evaluated. Human/animal sterols coprostanol and cholesterol, and phytosterol β-sitosterol were the dominant compounds in all water samples. The sterol abundance pattern in river water was different from that in raw sewage, indicating a more pronounced biogenic input, as well as greater impact of wastewater discharges on the composition of the suspended phase. Severe contamination of the investigated area was determined, with the Danube being more contaminated than the Sava River due to different hydrodynamic conditions leading to significantly higher sterol levels in the suspended particulate matter. It was also shown that the greater part of human/animal sterols and phytosterols present in river water samples (83.0 ± 11.9 % and 87.1 ± 15.2 %) and wastewater samples (92.1 ± 6.8 % and 95.0 ± 5.7 %) was bound to suspended material compared to the dissolved phase, emphasizing the need to consider and analyze both water phases in the tracing of steroid-based environmental pollution in order to obtain a realistic picture of steroid contamination and their fate in the aquatic environment. A high removal rate (>98 %) of coprostanol and cholesterol during wastewater treatment was determined and only the coprostanol/(coprostanol + cholestanol) ratio was found to be sensitive enough to be affected by an improvement in the quality of treated wastewater.", publisher = "Elsevier B.V.", journal = "Science of the Total Environment", title = "Steroid-based tracing of sewage-sourced pollution of river water and wastewater treatment efficiency: Dissolved and suspended water phase distribution", pages = "157510", volume = "846", doi = "10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157510" }
Jauković, Z., Grujić, S., Bujagić Matić, I., Petković, A.,& Laušević, M.. (2022). Steroid-based tracing of sewage-sourced pollution of river water and wastewater treatment efficiency: Dissolved and suspended water phase distribution. in Science of the Total Environment Elsevier B.V.., 846, 157510. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157510
Jauković Z, Grujić S, Bujagić Matić I, Petković A, Laušević M. Steroid-based tracing of sewage-sourced pollution of river water and wastewater treatment efficiency: Dissolved and suspended water phase distribution. in Science of the Total Environment. 2022;846:157510. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157510 .
Jauković, Zorica, Grujić, Svetlana, Bujagić Matić, Ivana, Petković, Anđelka, Laušević, Mila, "Steroid-based tracing of sewage-sourced pollution of river water and wastewater treatment efficiency: Dissolved and suspended water phase distribution" in Science of the Total Environment, 846 (2022):157510, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157510 . .