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Bioanalytical and chemical characterization of organic micropollutant mixtures in long-term exposed passive samplers from the Joint Danube Survey 4: Setting a baseline for water quality monitoring

Authors :
Pavel Šauer
Branislav Vrana
Beate I. Escher
Roman Grabic
Zuzana Toušová
Martin Krauss
Peter C. von der Ohe
Maria König
Kateřina Grabicová
Petra Mikušová
Roman Prokeš
Jaromír Sobotka
Pavla Fialová
Jiří Novák
Werner Brack
Klára Hilscherová
Source :
Environment International, Vol 178, Iss , Pp 107957- (2023)
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
Elsevier, 2023.

Abstract

Monitoring methodologies reflecting the long-term quality and contamination of surface waters are needed to obtain a representative picture of pollution and identify risk drivers. This study sets a baseline for characterizing chemical pollution in the Danube River using an innovative approach, combining continuous three-months use of passive sampling technology with comprehensive chemical (747 chemicals) and bioanalytical (seven in vitro bioassays) assessment during the Joint Danube Survey (JDS4). This is one of the world's largest investigative surface-water monitoring efforts in the longest river in the European Union, which water after riverbank filtration is broadly used for drinking water production. Two types of passive samplers, silicone rubber (SR) sheets for hydrophobic compounds and AttractSPETM HLB disks for hydrophilic compounds, were deployed at nine sites for approximately 100 days. The Danube River pollution was dominated by industrial compounds in SR samplers and by industrial compounds together with pharmaceuticals and personal care products in HLB samplers. Comparison of the Estimated Environmental Concentrations with Predicted No-Effect Concentrations revealed that at the studied sites, at least one (SR) and 4–7 (HLB) compound(s) exceeded the risk quotient of 1. We also detected AhR-mediated activity, oxidative stress response, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma-mediated activity, estrogenic, androgenic, and anti-androgenic activities using in vitro bioassays. A significant portion of the AhR-mediated and estrogenic activities could be explained by detected analytes at several sites, while for the other bioassays and other sites, much of the activity remained unexplained. The effect-based trigger values for estrogenic and anti-androgenic activities were exceeded at some sites. The identified drivers of mixture in vitro effects deserve further attention in ecotoxicological and environmental pollution research. This novel approach using long-term passive sampling provides a representative benchmark of pollution and effect potentials of chemical mixtures for future water quality monitoring of the Danube River and other large water bodies.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
01604120
Volume :
178
Issue :
107957-
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Environment International
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.848bb328dba499eb94b46a694d2f539
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.107957