Development of an analytical procedure for determination of selected estrogens and progestagens in water samples

An analytical procedure has been developed for determination of eight selected natural and synthetic hormonal steroids in surface water and in effluent samples. Several methodological points have been investigated and are discussed; they include the choice of the solid-phase extraction sorbent, the influence of flow rate on recovery, the breakthrough volume for a given sorbent (Env+ and Oasis HLB), sample clean up, and sample storage. As regards the latter point, it was found that when no preservative was added to effluent from a sewage-treatment plant, severe loss of steroids occurred—85% of progesterone and about 30% of both estrone and estradiol were found to be degraded in 24 h. The procedure developed was applied to samples from the Seine river estuary. Sex steroids were not detected in surface water; estrone was the most commonly detected steroid in sewage-treatment plant effluent, with levels ranging from 1.8 to 8.3 ng L^–1. Synthetic estrogens (ethynylestradiol and mestranol) and progestagens (levonorgestrel and norethindrone) were never detected, whatever the sampling season. Overall, for 162 out of 168 measurements levels were below the detection limits of the developed procedure.