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

大温哥华污水处理和排污区(GVS&DD)将5个污水处理厂的废水直接或间接排放到佐治亚州海峡，佐治亚州海峡是萨利什海近岸端的一条半封闭的远洋航道，周围约有10%的加拿大人口。这些废水含有令人担忧的有机物质，包括内分泌干扰物(EDCs)，以及银和镉等金属，这些金属在高浓度下可能是有毒的。GVS和DD面临的基本问题是：他们是否应该担心这些物质对格鲁吉亚海峡的影响，无论是现在还是在可预见的将来，如果是这样的话，可以做些什么来减轻这些影响？回答这些问题意味着解决有关这些物质在沿海海域的生物、化学和物理运输过程，以及导致这些物质在海洋食物链中生物积累的过程的基础科学问题。在这里，我们提出一个项目，以量化排放到海峡的内分泌物质的水柱浓度，了解区域海洋环流和颗粒动力学如何以及为什么会导致环境水平随时间和空间的变化，确定随着这些物质进入海峡更高的营养水平，这些物质的生物积累，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&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.