Risk Assessment of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) in Prairie Surface Water under Changing Climate

地表水中内分泌干扰物（EDCs）的广泛分布所带来的风险日益受到关注。暴露于内分泌干扰物与人类和野生动物的各种不良影响有关。在气候变化的情况下，更高的降雨量和洪水可以通过径流和废水排放增加水生环境中的内分泌干扰物的数量。了解地表水中内分泌干扰物的环境风险不仅是迫切需要的，而且在加拿大草原省份也极具挑战性。开发有效和实用的工具和策略来识别EDCs对草原流域的影响，对于确保我们在不断变化的气候条件下的供水安全是必要的。 基于这些考虑，拟议的研究涉及以下目标： (i)描述加拿大草原省份受内分泌干扰物影响的地表水的特征，并建立一个数据库，该数据库结合了有关内分泌干扰物、接收环境和相关气候变化情景的信息;（ii）调查变化气候条件下地表水内分泌干扰物的动态分布和降解;（iii）利用同步加速器技术分析内分泌干扰物对水生生物的毒性，并确定有害影响在食物链中的转移;（iv）制定最佳的管理和处理方法，以确保在当前和未来的气候条件下，内分泌干扰物对草原水源的风险降至最低。 一套新的系统表征方法将被提出来获取信息，分析的主要来源和归宿的内分泌干扰物，并检查内分泌干扰物和气候变化之间的相互作用。内分泌干扰物的传输将集中在水，沉积物和生物区系之间的分配。将评估内分泌干扰物对草原水生生物的毒性。根据风险评估结果，将提出适当的管理和处理方法。 这项研究为支持在不断变化的气候条件下对新出现的污染物进行环境管理的方法做出了独特的贡献。这项研究的结果与水质和气候变化领域的政策制定有关。该项目将大大有助于填补加拿大市政供水系统中新兴污染物管理方面的技术、法规和政策空白。该研究可用于预测供水污染事件的风险。

There are increasing concerns over the risks arising from the wide-spread distribution of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in surface water. Exposure to EDCs has been linked to a variety of adverse effects in both humans and wildlife. Under a changing climate, higher rainfall and flooding can increase the amount of EDCs in an aquatic environment via runoff and wastewater discharge. Understanding the environmental risk of EDCs in surface water is not only urgently needed but also extremely challenging in Canadian prairie provinces. The development of effective and practical tools and strategies for discerning the impacts of EDCs on prairie watersheds is necessary to ensure the safety of our water supply under changing climatic conditions. In view of these considerations, the proposed research involves the following objectives: (i) characterize the surface water affected by EDCs in prairie provinces of Canada and build a database that combines information about EDCs, receiving environments and related climate change scenarios; (ii) investigate the dynamic distribution and degradation of EDCs in surface water under changing climatic conditions; (iii) analyze the toxicity of EDCs to aquatic organisms through synchrotron-based techniques and determine the transfer of adverse effects within food chains; (iv) develop best management and treatment practices for ensuring the minimum risk of EDCs to prairie water sources under current and future climatic conditions. A set of novel system-characterization methodologies will be proposed to acquire information, analyze the major sources and fate of EDCs, and examine the interactions between EDCs and climate change. The transport of EDCs will be examined to focus on the partitioning among water, sediment, and biota. The toxicity of EDCs to prairie aquatic organisms will be evaluated. Based on the risk assessment results, appropriate management and treatment approaches will be proposed. This research represents a unique contribution to methodologies for supporting environmental management of emerging contaminants under changing climatic conditions. The findings of this study have relevance for policy development in the areas of water quality and climate change. This project will considerably contribute to filling the gaps of technique, regulation and policy in emerging contaminants management for water supply systems in a Canadian municipal context. The study can be used to predict the risk of water supply contamination events.