Sedimentary sterol levels to track river contamination by sewage in one of the largest Amazonian cities (Belém - Pará), northern Brazil

Morales, Jorge Hernando Agudelo; Rodrigues, Camila Carneiro dos Santos; Messias, Mariana da Silva; Damasceno, Flaviana Cardoso; Torres, Angela Esmeralda Cely; Corrêa, José Augusto Martins

doi:10.1590/S2179-975X3223

Brasil

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Original Article • Acta Limnol. Bras. 35 • 2023 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S2179-975X3223 linkcopy

Sedimentary sterol levels to track river contamination by sewage in one of the largest Amazonian cities (Belém - Pará), northern Brazil

Níveis de esteróis sedimentares para rastrear a contaminação por esgoto de um rio em uma das maiores cidades da Amazônia (Belém - Pará), norte do Brasil

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract:

Aim The Aurá River, located in the second-largest Brazilian Amazon city, has been experiencing the effects of human activities from riverine communities and the Aurá landfill for many years. In this study, we assess the occurrence, sources, and distribution of selected sterol markers in surface sediments of Aurá River in order to evaluate the organic matter inputs in this water body.

Methods Gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) was used to identify and quantify sterol compounds. Pearson correlation, principal component analysis (PCA) and sterol ratios were used to assess sewage pollution.

Results The sterol markers identified, the related diagnostic ratios, and statistical analysis showed that Aurá River sediments presented two primary sterol sources: anthropogenic (domestic sewage and inputs from Aurá landfill) and biogenic sources (terrestrial higher plants). Station 1 (the closest site to the Aurá landfill) presented the highest level of coprostanol (219.8 ng g-1). This maximum level of coprostanol and the sterol ratios indicate moderate human fecal contamination in the upper reach of the Aurá River. Coprostanol levels were similar to the lower to midrange concentrations reported for surficial river sediments around the world.

Conclusions This study demonstrated that domestic sewage pollution from riverine communities and organic matter inputs from Aurá landfill might be assumed as potential threats to environmental and human health.

Keywords: surface sediments; organic matter; domestic riverine sewage; ecological and human health risk; amazonic aquatic systems

Name	Diagnostic ratio	Value	Indicative	Reference
R1	$\frac{C o p r o s t a n o l}{C o p r o s t a n o l + C h o l e s t a n o l}$	< 0.3	No Fecal contamination	Grimalt et al. (1990)
		0.3 - 0.7	Moderate Fecal contamination
		> 0.7	Human Fecal contamination
R2	$\frac{C o p r o s t a n o l}{C h o l e s t e r o l}$	≤ 0.5	Biogenic sources	Grimalt et al. (1990)
		> 0.5 and ≤ 1.0	Human fecal contamination	Leeming et al. (1996)
		> 1.0	Intense sewage contamination	Takada et al. (1994)
		> 1.0	Intense sewage contamination	Fattore et al. (1996)
R3	$\frac{C o p r o s t a n o l}{C h o l e s t a n o l + C h o l e s t e r o l}$	> 0.06	Human fecal contamination	Writer et al. (1995)
R4	$\frac{C h o l e s t a n o l}{C h o l e s t e r o l}$	< 0.5	Fresh organic input	Chalaux et al. (1995)
R4	$\frac{C h o l e s t a n o l}{C h o l e s t e r o l}$	> 0.5	In situ reduction of cholesterol	Chalaux et al. (1995)

Variables	Sampling Sites
Variables	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Sterols
Coprostanol	219.8	28.3	61.5	76.7	24.9	ND	ND	ND	ND
Cholesterol	55.7	138.2	146.1	158.6	66.7	21.8	56.3	16.5	34.4
Cholestanol	112.6	126.3	182.3	235.9	65.0	50.1	20.6	30.5	25.7
Stigmasterol	187.8	230.4	253.7	312.8	101.1	52.7	28.6	45.0	81.1
β-Sitosterol	335.7	220.2	102.3	320.7	317.4	319.1	222.7	340.4	348.4
Stigmastanol	355.4	243.4	354.4	215.0	333.7	330.1	36.7	106.0	219.5
Σsterols	1267.0	986.8	1100.3	1319.6	908.7	773.9	364.9	538.4	709.1
Ratios
R1	0.7	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.3	ND	ND	ND	ND
R2	3.9	0.2	0.4	0.5	0.4	ND	ND	ND	ND
R3	1.3	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	ND	ND	ND	ND
R4	2.0	0.9	1.2	1.5	1.0	2.3	0.4	1.8	0.7
Bulk parameters
%OM	10.8	8.8	16.8	6.3	5.7	9.8	7.5	7.2	11.8
%MUD	27.7	42.3	27.7	24.0	27.7	38.3	27.7	30.7	27.7

Location	Maximum Coprostanol Concentration (ng g⁻¹)	References
Ubatuba Bay, Brazil	270	Muniz et al. (2006)
Tay Estuary, Scotland	1.53	Reeves & Patton. (2005)
Inner shelf NE coast, Brazil	184	Carreira et al. (2015)
Tubarão River, Brazil	32,200	Cabral et al. (2020)
Sepetiba Bay, Brazil	430	Carreira et al. (2009)
Xiaoqing River, China	63,262	He et al. (2018)
Laizhou Bay, China	4,553	He et al. (2018)
Antonina Bay, Brazil	190	Cabral et al. (2019)
Paranaguá Bay, Brazil	70	Cabral et al. (2019)
Guaratuba bay, Brazil	6	Cabral et al. (2019)
The Sergipe River estuary, Brazil	1,072	Frena et al. (2019)
Mindu Stream, Brazilian Amazon	6,113	Melo et al. (2019)
Quarenta Stream, Brazilian Amazon	12,830	Melo et al. (2019)
Tarumã-Açu Stream, Brazilian Amazon	142	Melo et al. (2019)

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[1] ND means non-detected; R1 = coprostanol/(coprostanol + cholestanol); R2 = coprostanol/cholesterol; R3 = coprostanol/(cholesterol + cholestanol); R4 = cholesterol/ cholestenol; %OM = organic matter content; %MUD = fine grain size content.