Survey on Karun river water contamination by alkylphenolic compounds as endocrine disrupting contaminants

Background:

Alkylphenol polyethoxylates (APnEOs) and their metabolites disposal from sewage treatment plants (STP) are of particular concern due to their persistence, toxicity to aquatic organisms, and a potential endocrine disruptor. In this work, we focused on the determination of nonylphenol (NP) and nonylphenol polyethoxylate (NPnEOs) in water were collected from Karun River.

Material and methods:

In this study, Sample collections for Karun River water were carried out on rainy and dry seasons from 10 hydrometric stations according to standard methods. The water samples were prepared using solid phase extraction procedure and analyzed by HPLCFLD..

Results:

According to this study, NP and NPnEOs concentrations in Karun river water ranged from 0.1181.369 ?g/L and 0.1300.365 ?g/L, respectively. This study showed that the NP concentration in water samples of Karun River was higher than the other alkyphenolic metabolites. The data showed significant difference between mean concentrations of these compounds in the upstream and downstream stations of Ahwaz megacity (pvalue <0.05).