Occurrence and seasonal disparity of emerging endocrine disrupting chemicals in a drinking water supply system and associated health risk

Contamination of drinking water with endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) raises concerns over the security and long-term sustainability of clean water supplies as well as human exposure via daily water intake. In this study, the seasonal disparity and occurrence of six phthalates and bisphenol-A in the drinking water supply system and associated health-risk were examined. The detection frequencies of the ∑6PAEs ranged from 24 to 100% in the winter whereas; in summer it is below the detection limit up to 100%. DEHP was the most prevalent phthalate congener ranging from 1.14 to 8351.85 µg/L (winter) and 0.552 to 410.29 µg/L (summer) surpassing the permissible limit. However, BPA concentrations were found under the permissible limit. The results suggested that PAEs concentration displayed significant seasonal variations with the highest in winter and the lowest in summer. The exposure to PAEs and BPA from drinking water was assessed, indicating a possible health risk to humans with a hazard quotient (HQ) > 1 for DEHP only. The findings necessitate an immediate scrutiny of these EDCs in drinking water supply system and are critical for implementing effective technologies at the WTP scale to ensure the quality and safety of drinking water to ascertain human and environmental health.