and
Dairy Wastewater, Aquaculture, and Spawning Fish as Sources of Steroid Hormones in the Aquatic Environment
and
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
631 Davis Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California
94720, and Department of Land, Air, Water Resources,
University of California, Davis, California 95616
Received for review March 16, 2004
Revised manuscript received June 13, 2004
Accepted July 2, 2004
Abstract:
A suite of androgens, estrogens, and progestins were
measured in samples from dairy farms, aquaculture facilities,
and surface waters with actively spawning fish using
gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) to assess the potential importance of these sources
of steroid hormones to surface waters. In a dairy waste lagoon,
the endogenous estrogens 17
-estradiol and estrone
and the androgens testosterone and androstenedione were
detected at concentrations as high as 650 ng/L. Samples
from nearby groundwater monitoring wells demonstrated
removal of steroid hormones in the subsurface. Samples
from nearby surface waters and tile drains likely impacted
by animal wastes demonstrated the sporadic presence
of the steroids 17-estradiol, estrone, testosterone, and
medroxyprogesterone, usually at concentrations near or
below 1 ng/L. The endogenous steroids estrone, testosterone,
and androstenedione were detected in the raceways
and effluents of three fish hatcheries at concentrations
near 1 ng/L. Similar concentrations were detected in a river
containing spawning adult Chinook salmon. These
results indicate that dairy wastewater, aquaculture
effluents, and even spawning fish can lead to detectable
concentrations of steroid hormones in surface waters and
that the concentrations of these compounds exhibit
considerable temporal and spatial variation.