Sources, dispersion, fate and impact of endocrine disruptive chemicals in the strait of Georgia

大温哥华污水和排水区（GVS&DD）将5个污水处理厂的废水直接或间接排放到格鲁吉亚海峡，这是一条位于萨利希海近岸末端的半封闭海洋水道，周围环绕着约10%的加拿大人口。该废水含有令人关注的有机物质，包括内分泌干扰性化学物质（EDCs），以及高浓度可能有毒的金属如银和镉。GVS和DD的基本问题是：它们是否应该担心这些物质在格鲁吉亚海峡的影响，现在或在可预见的将来，如果是这样，可以采取哪些措施来减轻这些影响？解决这些问题意味着解决有关这些物质在沿海海域的生物、化学和物理迁移过程以及导致这些物质在海洋食物网中生物积累的过程的基础科学问题。了解区域海洋环流和粒子动力学如何以及为什么能够导致环境水平随空间和时间发生变化，确定这些物质在海峡进入较高营养水平时的生物累积情况，研究环境浓度是否或在什么时候可能成为环境问题，并确定GVS和DD废水处理厂作为来源的重要性。

The Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District (GVS&DD) discharges wastewater from 5 wastewater treatment plants directly or indirectly into the Strait of Georgia, a semi-enclosed oceanic waterway at the inshore end of the Salish Sea surrounded by about 10% of Canada's population. This wastewater contains organic substances of concern including endocrine-disruptive chemicals (EDCs), as well as metals like silver and cadmium which can be toxic in high concentrations. The basic questions for GVS&DD are: should they be worried about the effect of these substances in the Strait of Georgia, now or in the foreseeable future, and if so, what might be done about mitigating these effects? Answering these questions means addressing basic science issues about biological, chemical and physical transport processes for these substances in a coastal ocean area, and about processes leading to the bioaccumulation of these substances in marine food webs.Here we propose a project to quantify water column concentrations of EDCs discharged into the Strait, understand how and why regional ocean circulation and particle dynamics can cause environmental levels to change over space and time, determine the bioaccumulation as these substances move into higher trophic levels in the Strait, study whether or at what point the ambient concentrations may become of environmental concern, and determine the importance of the GVS&DD wastewater treatments plants as sources.