Steroid hormones in the aquatic environment - Insights from new analytical methods for corticosteroids and progestogens

Endocrine active substances such as steroid hormones gain increasing focus in environmental research as they cause endocrine disruption in aquatic organisms exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations. Data about occurrence and fate of steroid hormones are scare. Based on the recently published method (FKZ 3715 67 413) the occurrence of 60 steroids in wastewater treatment plant effluents and surface waters were reported. To understand stability and degradation pathways, degradation studies were conducted that allowed comparability of transformation processes under standardised aerobic conditions. Several of the newly identified transformation products are persistent and some of them could be detected in wastewater treatment plant effluent and surface waters. Steroid hormones and their transformation products should be included more in future environmental measurements and studies.

During the project 3 articles have been published: Weizel et al. 2018 (https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b06147), Weizel et al. 2020a (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.115561), Weizel et al. 2020b https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2020.116515)