For example, in volume 8 (1994) of Chemistry and Ecology, researchers demonstrated that the feminization of fish male carp and trout producing vitellogenin, an egg protein usually found only in females was associated with exposure to sewage effluent now known to contain ethinyl estradiol, the active ingredient in birth control pills.
In effluents of three Swiss wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), the concentrations of pharmaceuticals reached 1.3 μg·L−1 for ibuprofen, 0.99 μg·L−1 for diclofenac, and 0.95 μg·L−1 for carbamazepine [ 2].
In particular, extreme weather events may be enhanced in frequency and/or severity by climate change, leading to the overload of municipal stormwater and sewage systems and to reduced public hygiene – via, for example, the overflow of effluent into drinking supplies and recreational facilities such as pools, lakes, and rivers (32).
For example, sewage effluent exposures produce more rapid VTG induction in rainbow trout compared with that in carp or roach; however, the effective concentration of effluent to induce VTG is essentially the same (Jobling et al. 2004; Tyler et al. 2005).
For example, he said, tens of billions of tonnes of effluent are dumped in the Ganges in India every year.
As an example, in one effluent sample, the measured concentrations of E1, E2, EE2, and NP were 70, 14, 0.83, and 2,850 ng/L, respectively.
Wastewater treatment works (WwTW) effluent, for example, contains a mixture of natural and synthetic xenobiotics, household and agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other compounds, many of which remain unidentified (Stevens et al. 2003).
For example, the highest exceedance of the Canadian PNEC in effluent was observed in Europe, followed by North America, and Asia with exceedence values of 63.4%, 56.3%, and 52.4%, respectively.
For example, almost 100% of estrogenic and androgenic activity in fish bile and effluents from wastewater treatment plants can be explained by the occurrence of natural and synthetic steroids [ 11, 17].
For example, the use of microorganisms could result in both the detoxification of the effluent and the generation of value-added products, for example, xanthan gum, citric acid, ethanol, antioxidants, polyhydroxyalkanoates, b-glucan, lipase, single cell oil, and edible biomass [ 8– 18].
