Potential Exposure to Estrogenic Chemicals Via Drinking Water from a Vulnerable Aquifer: Pairing Chemical Analyses with a Bioassay. S. J. Melly, R. A. Rudel, A. M. Soto, and J. G. Brody, Silent Spring Institute, 29 Crafts Street, Newton, MA 02158; and Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, Boston, MA 02111
Little is known about environmental exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals, including those with estrogenic activity. One potential pathway of exposure may be through drinking water drawn from sources vulnerable to contamination by endocrine disruptors in consumer products, pesticides and wastewater. Drinking water on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is supplied entirely from groundwater vulnerable to contamination because the high water table of the sole source aquifer there is overlain by highly permeable, sandy soils. Rapid population growth, the regional practice of discharging all wastewater to groundwater, and the widespread current and historical use of pesticides on the Cape provide potential sources of endocrine disrupting chemicals. This paper describes the use of the E-SCREEN bioassay for estrogenic activity, coupled with custom and standard chemical analyses, to obtain direct measurements of the presence of known and suspected estrogenic compounds in samples of wastewater and drinking water from the Cape. The data obtained are being used to classify geographic areas according to the likelihood of exposure to endocrine disruptors through drinking water. The results of the first phases of this work help identify additional research needed to support exposure assessment for endocrine disruptors.
Work supported by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health under Contract # SC-DPH-7900-62-14H11.