[A review on current situations of steroid estrogen in the water system].

Steroid estrogens are a group of biologically active endocrine disruptors. An extremely low level of steroid estrogens is sufficient to result in reproduction and behavior disorders, and larval mutation of both human being and animals. The ecological and environmental effects of steroid estrogens should be more direct on organisms in water system as compared with those in other environment systems. Therefore, in this paper we reviewed the physical and chemical properties of some frequently-used steroid estrogens, and their contamination status, origins and transfers in water system, so as to provide a theoretical basis for developing estrogen removal strategies.