Abstract
Sewage contamination is a principal concern in water quality management as pathogens in sewage can cause diseases and lead to detrimental health effects in humans. This study examines the distribution of seven sterol compounds, namely coprostanol, epi-coprostanol, cholesterol, cholestanol, stigmasterol, campesterol, and β-sitosterol in filtered and particulate phases of sewage treatment plants (STPs), groundwater, and river water. For filtered samples, solid-phase extraction (SPE) was employed while for particulate samples were sonicated. Quantification was done by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). Faecal stanols (coprostanol and epi-coprostanol) and β-sitosterol were dominant in most STP samples. Groundwater samples were influenced by natural/biogenic sterol, while river water samples were characterized by a mixture of sources. Factor loadings from principal component analysis (PCA) defined fresh input of biogenic sterol and vascular plants (positive varimax factor (VF)1), aged/treated sewage sources (negative VF1), fresh- and less-treated sewage and domestic sources (positive VF2), biological sewage effluents (negative VF2), and fresh-treated sewage sources (VF3) in the samples. Association of VF loadings and factor score values illustrated the correlation of STP effluents and the input of biogenic and plant sterol sources in river and groundwater samples of Linggi. This study focuses on sterol distribution and its potential sources; these findings will aid in sewage assessment in the aquatic environment.
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Data Availability
The datasets analyzed during this current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their sincere thanks to four anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and criticisms which improve this manuscript substantially. The authors also would like to thank the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) of Malaysia for supporting this research under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) No: FRGS/1/2017/STG01/UNISZA/02/2 and Internal UNiSZA grant: UNiSZA/2017/SRGS/18. Research funding was also provided by the Centre of Hydrogeology, National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM) under the project Integrated surface and groundwater physical-based model of Linggi, Muda and Langat River Basin which assisted with transportation and the groundwater studies. We would also like to thank Mr Azharuddin Abdul Aziz and Mr Izzul Baharuddin for their valuable advice on GC-MS method development. We express our sincere gratitude to the Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) Seremban and Linggi staff (Mr Ismail, Mr Johan, Mrs Mona, Mr Hairol, and Mr Amir) for their permission and support during the sampling process.
Funding
This study received funding from Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) No: FRGS/1/2017/STG01/UNISZA/02/2, Internal UNiSZA grant: UNiSZA/2017/SRGS/18, Internal fund from Centre of Hydrogeology, National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM) under the project Integrated surface and groundwater physical-based model of Linggi, Muda and Langat River Basin.
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Conceptualization: [Munirah Abdul Zali, Hafizan Juahir, Ananthy Retnam]; Methodology: [Munirah Abdul Zali, Ananthy Retnam, Masni Mohd Ali, Azrul Normi Idris, Anuar Sefie, Ismail Tawnie, Syaiful Bahren Saadudin]; Formal analysis and investigation: [Munirah Abdul Zali, Hafizan Juahir, Masni Mohd Ali, Ananthy Retnam]; Writing - original draft preparation: [Munirah Abdul Zali, Azimah Ismail, Ananthy Retnam]; Writing - review and editing: [Hafizan Juahir, Azimah Ismail, Ananthy Retnam, Masni Mohd Ali, Azrul Normi Idris, Anuar Sefie, Ismail Tawnie, Syaiful Bahren Saadudin ]; Funding acquisition: [Hafizan Juahir, Azimah Ismail, Azrul Normi Idris, Anuar Sefie, Ismail Tawnie, Syaiful Bahren Saadudin]; Resources: [Hafizan Juahir, Masni Mohd Ali, Azrul Normi Idris]; Supervision: [Hafizan Juahir, Masni Mohd Ali, Ananthy Retnam]
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Abdul Zali, M., Juahir, H., Ismail, A. et al. Tracing sewage contamination based on sterols and stanols markers within the mainland aquatic ecosystem: a case study of Linggi catchment, Malaysia. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 20717–20736 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11680-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11680-5