Glass-bottled drinking water: a time capsule to study the historic presence of hazardous chemicals using effect-based methods

Environmental Sciences Europe

Johan Lundqvist¹  Agneta Oskarsson¹  Kenneth M. Persson² 

[1] Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7028, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden;BioCell Analytica Uppsala AB, Malma Ringväg 16, SE-756 45, Uppsala, Sweden;Sydvatten AB, Hyllie Stationstorg 21, 215 32, Malmö, Sweden;Sweden Water Research AB, Ideon Science Park, Scheelevägen 15, 223 70, Lund, Sweden;Department of Building and Environmental Technology, Water Resources Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, 221 00, Lund, Sweden;

关键词: Effect-based methods;    Drinking water;    Estrogen receptor activity;    Aryl hydrocarbon receptor activity;    Bottled water;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12302-021-00476-0

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundContamination of drinking water by hazardous chemicals can be associated with human health risks. Recent studies using effect-based in vitro methods have demonstrated that a large part of the observed toxic effects are caused by unknown chemicals. In this study, we have used a panel of effect-based methods to study the presence of chemical contaminants in a unique material; glass-bottled Swedish tap water collected during the 1990s. These water samples were compared to drinking water from the same source waters and drinking water facilities, yet collected about 25 years later, in 2020.ResultsSamples were concentrated by solid phase extraction and evaluated for the following activities; estrogen receptor activity, androgen receptor activity, antiandrogenic activity, aryl hydrocarbon receptor activity, and oxidative stress response. We observed aryl hydrocarbon receptor activities in almost all studied samples and estrogen receptor activity in three out of ten studied samples. No activities were observed for androgen receptor activity, antiandrogenic activity or oxidative stress response. In general, observed activities were more frequent and higher in the water samples collected during the 1990s as compared to the corresponding samples collected in 2020.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that it is possible to conduct an effect-based evaluation of the presence of hazardous chemicals in drinking water, with as small starting volume as 330 mL, by using miniaturized bioassays. Further, by comparing the glass-bottled water samples with newly collected water samples from the same drinking water treatment facilities, our results indicate that the presence of aryl hydrocarbon receptor and estrogen receptor activating compounds in the drinking water has decreased over the approximately quarter of a century that is separating the two sampling occasions. This difference could be due to improved raw water quality and/or improved treatment efficiency in the treatment plants.

【 授权许可】

CC BY