Environ. Sci. Technol. 2005, 39, 5781-5786
Efficacy of an Advanced Sewage Treatment Plant in Southeast Queensland, Australia, to Remove Estrogenic Chemicals FRE ´ DE ´ R I C D . L . L E U S C H , †,‡,§ HEATHER F. CHAPMAN,| WOLFGANG KO ¨ RNER,⊥ S . R A V I G O O N E R A T N E †,‡ A N D L O U I S A . T R E M B L A Y * ,†,§ Centre for Environmental Toxicology (CENTOX), P.O. Box 84, Lincoln, New Zealand, Agriculture and Life Sciences, Lincoln University, P.O. Box 84, Lincoln, New Zealand, Landcare Research NZ Ltd., P.O. Box 69, Lincoln, New Zealand, Australian School of Environmental Studies, Griffith University - CRC Water Quality and Treatment, Coopers Plains, Qld 4108, Australia, and Institut fu ¨r Organische Chemie, Universita¨t Tu ¨ bingen, Tu ¨ bingen, Germany
The estrogenicity profile of domestic sewage during treatment at a medium-sized (3800 EP) advanced biological nutrient removal plant in Queensland, Australia, was characterized using a sheep estrogen receptor binding assay (ERBA) and the MCF-7 breast cancer cell proliferation assay (E-Screen). The raw influent was highly estrogenic (20-54 ng/L EEq), and primary treatment resulted in a slight increase in estrogenicity that was detected in one of the assays (6-80 ng/L). Concurrent chemical analysis suggested that most of the estrogenicity in the influent was due to natural hormones (>48%). Secondary activated sludge treatment followed by nitrification/denitrification effectively removed >95% of the estrogenic activity (to
