Pollution by endocrine disruptors in a southwest European temperate coastal lagoon (Ria de Aveiro, Portugal)

Ria de Aveiro is a Portuguese lagoon renowned for its ecological and economic importance. Nonetheless, in literature, few data exist about its organic pollution. Accordingly, this study chemically monitored for the first time a series of 17 endocrine disruptor compounds (EDCs). The target EDCs include natural (17β-oestradiol, oestrone) and pharmaceutical (17α-ethynylestradiol) oestrogens, industrial/household xenoestrogenic pollutants (octylphenols, nonylphenols and their mono and diethoxylates and bisphenol A), phytoestrogens (formononetin, biochanin A, daidzein, genistein) and the phytosterol sitosterol (SITO). For the investigation of these EDCs, water samples were taken from eight sampling sites widely spread along the lagoon, at three different occasions in 2011, and analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results not only proved the ubiquitous distribution of all analysed EDCs but revealed that their amounts were extremely high at all sampling sites. The annual average concentrations were ≈46 ng/L for oestrogens, ≈3962 ng/L for industrial/household chemicals, ≈1740 ng/L for phytoestrogens and ≈908 ng/L for SITO. Normalising these values in ethynylestradiol equivalents (EE2eq), the oestrogenic load in this lagoon attained ≈50 ng/L EE2eq, which is a value well above that known to produce oestrogenic-induced disorders in aquatic fauna. Additionally, phosphate concentrations were also above the legal limits (>1 mg/L). Overall, data show EDCs at toxic relevant levels in the Ria de Aveiro and stress the need to enforce depollution measures in this habitat.