Cited by 105Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental ImpactsEffects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicalsWater Quality and Pollution Assessment

Wastewater-contaminated groundwater as a source of endogenous hormones and pharmaceuticals to surface water ecosystems

Standley, Laurel J, Rudel, Ruthann A, Swartz, Christopher H, Attfield, Kathleen R, Christian, Jeff, Erickson, Mike, Brody, Julia G·2008·Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Abstract

Increasing residential development in watershed recharge areas increases the likelihood of groundwater and surface water contamination by wastewater effluent, particularly where on-site sewage treatment is employed. This effluent contains a range of compounds including those that have been demonstrated to mimic or interfere with the function of natural hormones in aquatic organisms and humans. To explore whether groundwater contaminated by discharge from on-site septic systems affects water quality in surface water ecosystems, we measured steroidal hormones, pharmaceuticals, and other organic wastewater compounds (OWCs) in water collected from six aquifer-fed ponds in areas of higher and lower residential density on Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA). We detected both a greater number and higher concentrations of OWCs in samples collected from ponds located in higher residential density areas. Most often detected were the steroidal hormones androstenedione, estrone, and progesterone and the pharmaceuticals carbamazepine, pentoxifylline, sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprim. Of particular concern, estrogenic hormones were present at concentrations approaching those that induce physiological responses in fish. While a number of papers have reported on surface water contamination by OWCs from wastewater treatment plants, our results show that surface water ecosystems in unconfined aquifer settings are susceptible to contamination by estrogenic and other biologically active OWCs through recharge from aquifers contaminated by residential septic systems.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1897/07-604.1

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 48 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Standley, L. J., Rudel, R. A., Swartz, C. H., Attfield, K. R., Christian, J., Erickson, M., & Brody, J. G.
Affiliations
  • Silent Spring Institute (US)
  • Stockholm Environment Institute (US)
  • Columbia Analytical Services, 1317 South 13th Avenue, Kelso, Washington 98626, USA
Corresponding author
Standley, Laurel J
Venue
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Published
2008-12-01
Volume
27
Issue
12
Pages
2457-2468
ISSN
  • 0730-7268 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-8618
OpenAlex
W2000235046
Cited by
105
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 8
FWCI
3.94
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Effects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Water Quality and Pollution Assessment
Keywords
groundwater contamination, wastewater effluent, endocrine disruptors, steroid hormones, pharmaceuticals, septic systems, groundwater recharge, surface water contamination, estrogenic activity, housing density, unconfined aquifer, Cape Cod
MeSH terms
Pharmaceutical Preparations, Hormones, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Ecosystem

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review