[Variation of estrogenic effects during water treatment processes in a drinking water work in South China]

The variation of estrogenic effects during water treatment processes in a drinking water work in South China was investigated. Water samples were collected from the source water and the different treatment processes. Crude extracts were obtained by solid phase extraction (SPE) using HLB columns and three fractionated extracts were obtained by elution using organic reagents with different polarity. Recombinant gene yeast assay was used to evaluate the endocrine disrupters effects of all the samples. The combination of the recombinant gene yeast assay and the sample fractionation technique was effective to evaluate the estrogenic effects for water samples. All the crude samples showed positive results in the yeast assay and the highest effect was occurred in the source water sample, in which the effects were mainly attributed to the none-polar fraction and the estradiol equivalent concentration was 0.25 pmol/L. 83% estrogenic effects were reduced effectively by the treatment processes.