The research of 17a-ethinyl Estradiol (EE2) Levels in the Freshwater Sources Poured Into the Northeast Mediterranean Region

Abstract

Rivers are ecosystems affected first by environmental pollution. Pollutants originating from domestic, industrial and agricultural activities are firstly involved in rivers. At times when the human population was low, waste materials that had been mixed into rivers could be diluted in a short distance and disintegrated from natural routes. However, with the excessive population growth and industrialization that accompanied development, domestic and industrial wastes also multiplied and the rivers became unable to clean themselves.ln the Northeastern Mediterranean, where the freshwater is exposed to a wide variety of different wastewater, it is inevitable for the settlement centers in the vicinity to leave the Iskenderun Gulf, which is a commercially important region, irreversibly polluted.In this study, accumulation levels of 17a-ethinylestradiol (EE2) hormones were investigated in the chemicals that disturbed the endocrine system that caused the pollution of some freshwater sources pouring into Iskenderun Bay and started to worry scientists in the last decade.In our country, 17 alpha-ethinylestradiol (EE2) hormone levels were found to be high in all freshwater resources covered by the study, according to the Regulation on the Monitoring of Surface Waters and Underground Waters in which the Water Framework Directive was implemented at the national level.