Occurrence and environmental risk of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in surface waters of the Pearl River, South China

The occurrence and environmental risk of endocrine-disrupting chemicals was investigated in the surface water samples of the Zhujiang and Dongjiang rivers, Pearl River Delta (PRD) of South China. Thirty surface water samples were collected in the dry season and analyzed by using an MSTFA derivation and a GC-MS-SIM method. Concentrations of biphenol A (BPA) ranged from 43.5 to 639.1 ng L − 1, and concentrations of estrone (E1) and 17β-estradiol (E2) ranged from <1.5 to 8.2 ng L − 1 and from <1.1 to 1.7 ng L − 1, respectively. The spatial distribution of these chemicals was related to the discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater along the rivers. The highly significant correlation among BPA, E1, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) might be related to their same contamination source and/or their association with colloidal organic carbon of DOC in the river samples. Compared with other studied rivers in the world, the estrogenic contamination in the investigated rivers was high for BPA and moderate for E1. As the average estrogenic activity in E2 activity equivalent (E2eq; 1.16 ng E2eq L − 1) for the target BAP, E1, and E2 combined with those for nonyphenol and octylphenol, which were previously reported, exceeds documented effect levels in the investigated river waters for some aquatic species, they may pose a high risk to the local aquatic organisms.