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Bisphenols and phthalates in Australian wastewater: A statistical approach for estimating contributions from diffuse and point sources.
Moore, Belinda; He, Chang; Knight, Emma; Mueller, Jochen F; Tscharke, Benjamin.
Affiliation
  • Moore B; QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 4102 Brisbane, Australia. Electronic address: belinda.moore@uq.edu.au.
  • He C; QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 4102 Brisbane, Australia.
  • Knight E; QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 4102 Brisbane, Australia.
  • Mueller JF; QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 4102 Brisbane, Australia.
  • Tscharke B; QAEHS, Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, The University of Queensland, 4102 Brisbane, Australia.
Water Res ; 246: 120680, 2023 Nov 01.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37801981
Chemicals associated with plastics, such as bisphenols and phthalates, enter sewerage from both diffuse (domestic/commercial) and point (industrial) sources. In this study, we aimed to devise a conservative, statistical baseline to estimate contributions from these source types when sampling of specific sources is not possible. Population-normalised mass loads of two bisphenols and nine phthalates were estimated in wastewater samples from 22 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in 2019. Two multiday (10 and 7 day) pools were created for each STP. Baseline (diffuse) release thresholds were set at the mean of the first quartile (Q1) plus 10 times the standard deviation (STDV) of this quartile [Q1 mean + (10 x STDV)], with contributions over this considered to come from point sources. Chemicals with at least one population-normalised mass load more than three times their baseline were classified as point-source dominant and the remaining as diffuse-source dominant. Eleven of the twelve chemicals examined were detected above limits of quantification in all wastewater samples. Bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol S (BPS), di-isononyl phthalate (DiNP) and di-methyl phthalate (DMP) were classified as point-source dominant chemicals. The total annual mass loads entering STPs across Australia were estimated to be 4.2 tonnes/year from diffuse sources and 4.5 tonnes/year from point sources for bisphenols, and 47 tonnes/year from diffuse sources and 5.9 tonnes/year from point sources for phthalates.
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Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Phthalic Acids / Wastewater Country/Region as subject: Oceania Language: En Journal: Water Res Year: 2023 Document type: Article Country of publication: United kingdom

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Phthalic Acids / Wastewater Country/Region as subject: Oceania Language: En Journal: Water Res Year: 2023 Document type: Article Country of publication: United kingdom