title: Nonylphenolic compounds in drinking and surface waters downstream of treated textile and pulp and paper effluents: a survey and preliminary assessment of their potential effects on public health and aquatic life.
abstract: Eleven drinking water treatment plants, located downstream of textile plants or pulp and paper mills, have been sampled monthly during a year for the analysis of 17 nonylphenol ethoxylates (NP1-17EO) and two nonylphenoxycarboxylic acids (NP1-2EC). At all but one plant, results in the drinking water, for the sum of these 19 substances, range between below detection levels and 6.7 microg/l. Annual means are between 0.02 and 2.8 microg/l. At the other plant, the yearly average concentration is 10.4 microg/l and the monthly maximum is 43.3 microg/l. In the surface (pre-treatment) water, the annual mean concentrations of the 11 plants range between 0.14 and 17.8 microg/l and the recorded instantaneous maximum is 55.3 microg/l. According to Canadian health authorities, drinking water is a negligible route of human exposure to nonylphenolic compounds, even at the highest concentrations found in this study. After transformation of the data into nonylphenol equivalents, about 20% of the surface water samples exceed the Canadian 1 microg/l nonylphenol water quality guideline for the protection of aquatic life. Some results also exceed Québec's 6 microg/l nonylphenol guideline. The efficiency of the plants in removing nonylphenolic compounds from drinking water is highly variable, ranging from 11% to 99%.
authors.affiliation: Ministère de l'Environnement du Québec, Direction du suivi de l'état de l'environnement, 675 boul. René-Lévesque Est, Québec (Québec), Canada G1R 5V7. david.berryman@menv.gouv.qc.ca
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berryman
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Houde
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: DeBlois
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Shea
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000032:analysis*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D010636:Phenols / Q000032:analysis*; D011786:Quality Control; D011792:Quebec; D013783:Textile Industry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D018508:Water Purification
chemical_list: D007220:Industrial Waste; D010636:Phenols; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C025256:nonylphenol