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<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><A HREF="http://www.werf.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=15042&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm"><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Times New Roman">http://www.werf.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=15042&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm</FONT></U></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#8FB73A" SIZE=5 FACE="Arial">WERF Research Sheds New Light on Fate of Trace Organics in Wastewater Treatment</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">Researchers for a recently completed WERF project have identified key baseline information concerning the estrogenicity and concentrations of</FONT> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">individual trace organic compounds during common wastewater treatment processes. The project,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">Fate of Estrogenic Compounds During Municipal Sludge Stabilization and Dewatering</FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman"> (04HHE6), is one of the first research efforts to look specifically at the fate</FONT> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">of these compounds throughout the solids phase of treatment. The results shed new light on the occurrence, concentration, characteristics, and potency of estrogenic compounds that preferentially partition onto solids during common wastewater treatment pro</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">c</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">esses.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">A multi-disciplinary team of experts from AECOM, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the University of Arizona collected samples at four full-scale wastewater treatment plants over two years. They calculated the amounts of trace organics and estrogenic</FONT> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">activity for each sample point in the treatment process, enabling them to gauge their levels as they moved through the plants. The estrogenic activity is made up of steroidal hormones and synthetic estrogenic compounds.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">Out of the suite of 100 compounds me</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">asured, and based on the Model of Concentration Addition, nearly all of the estrogenicity in all plants and all dates was due to the presence of 16 compounds, namely the steroidal compounds (mainly estrange and estradiol) and the alkylphenols (mainly nony</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">l</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">phenol and short chain ethoxylates).</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">The study reached a number of significant conclusions concerning estrogenicity throughout the wastewatewater treatment process:</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Symbol">·<FONT FACE="Courier New"> </FONT></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">For all plants, the total estrogenicity leaving the plant was less than that entering the p</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">lant (see Figure 1).</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Symbol">·<FONT FACE="Courier New"> </FONT></FONT> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">The total estrogenicity leaving the plant in the biosolids generally was greater than that leaving the plant in the secondary treated effluent (see Figure 1).</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Symbol">·<FONT FACE="Courier New"> </FONT></FONT> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">Aerobic digestion reduced estrogenicity.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Symbol">·<FONT FACE="Courier New"> </FONT></FONT> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">Both mesophilic and thermophilic an</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">aerobic digestion increased estrogenicity, as did lime stabilization. The research team attributed the increase in estrogenicity during anaerobic digestion processes to transformation of some of the compounds into a more estrogenically potent form.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FACE="Symbol">·<FONT FACE="Courier New"> </FONT></FONT> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">Althoug</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">h the contribution to total estrogenicity by non-steroidal, synthetic compounds (e.g. alkylphenols) varied from plant to plant, the results indicate they can be a major contributor and cannot be ignored in favor of only focusing on steroidal hormones.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">WERF recently completed its</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">State-of-the-Science Review of Occurrence and Physical, Chemical and Biological Processes Affecting Biosolids-Borne Trace Organic Chemicals in Soils</FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman"> (SRSK5T09), which begins to identify the data needed to determine the significa</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">nce of trace organic chemicals (including those having estrogenic activity) in biosolids-amended soils. This state-of-the-science report will be available for distribution in August. WERF researchers will build on the findings in these two reports with th</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">e</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman"> upcoming research challenge</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><I> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">Trace Organics in Biosolids.</FONT></I></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000"> </FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">Figure 1.</FONT></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><BR>
</SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000"> </FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"> </SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><BR>
</SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000"> </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">Average Daily Mass Fluxes (mol EE2-equivalents/day) of Estrogenicity at Plant B<BR>
(Based on th</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman">e Model of Concentration Addition).</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><BR>
</SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><A NAME=""><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">Deborah L. DeBiasi</FONT></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial"><BR>
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B></B></SPAN><B><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</FONT></SPAN></B><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><I></I></B></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><I></I></B></SPAN><B><I><SPAN LANG="en-us"> <FONT COLOR="#FF0000" SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">(NEW!)<BR>
</FONT></SPAN></I></B><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">WEB site address: www.deq.virginia.gov</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial"><BR>
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">Virginia Department of Environmental Quality</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial"><BR>
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">Office of Water Permit and Compliance Assistance Prog</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">rams</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial"><BR>
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">Industrial Pretreatment/Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Program</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" FACE="Arial"><BR>
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000080" SIZE=2 FACE="Times New Roman">PPCPs, EDCs, and Microconstituents</FONT></SPAN></P>
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