Phthalates and alkylphenols in industrial and domestic effluents: Case of Paris conurbation (France)

Phthalates and alkylphenols are toxics classified as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). They are of particular concern due to their ubiquity and generally higher levels found in the environment comparatively to other EDCs. Industrial and domestic discharges might affect the quality of receiving waters by discharging organic matter and contaminants through treated waters and combined sewer overflows. Historically, industrial discharges are often considered as the principal vector of pollution in urban areas. If this observation was true in the past for some contaminants, no current data are today available to compare the quality of industrial and domestic discharges as regards EDCs. In this context, a total of 45 domestic samples as well as 101 industrial samples were collected from different sites, including 14 residential and 33 industrial facilities. This study focuses more specifically on 4 phthalates and 2 alkylphenols, among the most commonly studied congeners. A particular attention was also given to routine wastewater quality parameters. For most substances, wastewaters from the different sites were heavily contaminated; they display concentrations up to 1200 μg/l for di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and between 10 and 100 μg/l for diethyl phthalate and nonylphenol. Overall, for the majority of compounds, the industrial contribution to the flux of contaminant reaching the wastewater treatment plants ranges between 1 and 3%. The data generated during this work constitutes one of the first studies conducted in Europe on industrial fluxes for a variety of sectors of activity. The study of the wastewater contribution was used to better predict the industrial and domestic contributions at the scale of a huge conurbation heavily urbanized but with a weak industrial cover, illustrated by Paris. Our results indicate that specific investigations on domestic discharges are necessary in order to reduce the release of phthalates and alkylphenols in the sewer systems for such conurbations.

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