14 DAY TRIAL // Canadian researchers analyzed the water and fish from two rivers in the South Saskatchewan River Basin: The Red Deer and Oldman rivers, in southern Alberta. The University of Calgary scientists published their results in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
The water from the two rivers was tested for more that 24 organic contaminants, most of them with hormone-like activity, that can usually be found in wastewater. The results pointed out among other, synthetic estrogens (from birth control pills and hormone therapy drugs), bisphenol A (for plastic manufacturing) and several natural and synthetic steroids that are used in agriculture and by cattle farmers.
“What is unique about our study is the huge geographical area we covered. We found that chemicals -- man-made and naturally occurring - that have the potential to harm fish were present along approximately 600 km of river," says Lee Jackson, paper co-author and executive director of Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets. “The situation for native fish will likely get worse as the concentration of organic contaminants will become more concentrated as a response to climate change and the increase in human and animal populations,” he adds.
Researchers analysed a native minnow, longnose dace (Rhinichthys cataractae), and found out that in 14 out of 15 locations, males had high levels of a protein (hepatic vitellogenin) that is usually only found in females' blood because this is what makes them produce eggs, according to Science Daily.
These results are terrible and co-author and director of the newly established Institute of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Calgary, Hamid Habibi, says: “Most notably, we saw a significant increase in a specific protein marker for the presence of compounds with estrogen-like activity in areas downstream, south of Fort Macleod and Lethbridge. Our results showed females make up 85 per cent of the population of longnose dace. In the upstream locations, females comprise 55 per cent of the population.”
The Advancing Canadian Wastewater Assets is a research facility that develops and tests new ways of treating wastewater, located at the City of Calgary's new Pine Creek Wastewater Treatment Centre.