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

人们越来越关注地表水中广泛分布的内分泌干扰物（EDCs）所带来的风险。接触EDCs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，降雨增多和洪水会通过径流和废水排放增加水生环境中EDCs的数量。了解地表水中EDCs的环境风险不仅是加拿大草原省份迫切需要的，而且是极具挑战性的。开发有效和实用的工具和策略来识别EDCs对草原流域的影响是必要的，以确保我们的供水在不断变化的气候条件下的安全。考虑到这些因素，拟议的研究涉及以下目标：***(i)描述加拿大草原省份受EDCs影响的地表水特征，并建立一个结合EDCs信息、接收环境和相关气候变化情景的数据库；（ii）研究气候变化条件下地表水中EDCs的动态分布和退化；（iii）通过基于同步加速器的技术分析EDCs对水生生物的毒性，并确定食物链内不利影响的转移；（iv）制定最佳管理和处理做法，以确保在当前和未来气候条件下，EDCs对草原水源的风险降到最低。***将提出一套新的系统表征方法来获取信息，分析EDCs的主要来源和命运，并研究EDCs与气候变化之间的相互作用。EDCs的迁移将集中在水、沉积物和生物群之间的分配上。对EDCs对草原水生生物的毒性进行了评价。根据风险评估结果，提出相应的管理和处理方法。***这项研究对支持气候变化条件下新出现污染物的环境管理的方法作出了独特的贡献。这项研究的结果对水质和气候变化领域的政策制定具有相关性。该项目将大大有助于填补加拿大市政供水系统在新出现的污染物管理方面的技术、法规和政策空白。该研究可用于供水污染事件风险的预测

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.**