The Swire Institute of Marine Science and School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China; Department of Environment Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
Environ Pollut. 2018 Feb;233:387-394. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.10.086. Epub 2017 Nov 5.
Many of the world's large coastal cities discharge partially treated wastewater effluents containing various endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) to coastal environments. Nonylphenols (NP) and bisphenol A (BPA) were found to be the most abundant EDCs in sewage effluents in Hong Kong. The environmental fate and ecological risk of these two EDCs remains largely unknown, particular for coastal systems with complex hydrodynamic flows. Based on a validated three-dimensional (3D) multiple-scale hydrodynamic model, a field-based study was conducted to track the two EDCs from potential sources to the only marine reserve in Hong Kong. The two compounds were detected in all seawater, suspended particle, and sediment samples, with higher aqueous concentrations in wet season than in dry season. High concentrations in sediments suggest sediment is a sink, posing an ecological risk to the benthos. The fate and transport of the two EDCs was predicted using a 3D near-field Lagrangian jet model seamlessly coupled with a 3D shallow water circulation model. The results suggested the NP and BPA in the marine reserve cannot be solely attributed to the nearby submarine sewage outfall, but likely concurrently contributed by other sources. This study calls for more effective measures of reducing the use and release of these EDCs, and research to investigate their impacts on the marine benthos.
世界上许多大型沿海城市将含有各种内分泌干扰化学物质（EDCs）的部分处理废水排放到沿海环境中。壬基酚（NP）和双酚 A（BPA）被发现是香港污水中含量最丰富的两种 EDCs。这两种 EDCs 的环境归宿和生态风险在很大程度上仍然未知，特别是对于具有复杂水动力流的沿海系统。基于经过验证的三维（3D）多尺度水动力模型，进行了一项基于现场的研究，以追踪这两种 EDCs 从潜在源到香港唯一的海洋保护区的迁移。这两种化合物在所有海水、悬浮颗粒和沉积物样本中均有检测到，在雨季的浓度高于旱季。沉积物中浓度较高表明沉积物是一个汇，对底栖生物构成生态风险。使用 3D 近场拉格朗日射流模型无缝耦合 3D 浅水环流模型对这两种 EDCs 的命运和迁移进行了预测。结果表明，海洋保护区内的 NP 和 BPA 不能仅归因于附近的海底污水排放口，而可能同时来自其他来源。本研究呼吁采取更有效的措施减少这些 EDCs 的使用和释放，并研究它们对海洋底栖生物的影响。
