Occurrence and determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in Inanam River, Sabah

Rivers in Malaysia are recipients of effluents and wastewater and yet it is important water source for daily uses of some villagers living along the river. Endocrine disruptors such as Bisphenol A (BPA) can be found in river due to continuous discharge into it. The objectives of this research is to find out the occurrence and concentration of BPA in Inanam River and also to see how water quality parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO),turbidity, Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (AN) affecting the concentration of BPA. 11 stations in total including upstream to downstream of Inanam River and also tributary of Inanam River. Sampling is done in the morning to avoid degradation of BPA. 3 replicates for each stations. The method used to find out concentration of BPA is Solid Phase Extraction and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The concentration of BPA ranging from under quantitation limit to 4.0083 µg/L. The source of BPA are mainly industrial effluents and also direct domestic discharges. Among 11 stations, 3 stations that exceeded the Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC). The water quality parameters that will affect concentration of BPA are Ammonia Nitrogen (AN), turbidity, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO). While pH and water temperature are also factors that will affect concentration of BPA but the Significance is not shown in SPSS analysis. It can be concluded that upstream of Inanam River has lower concentration of BPA than downstream. Influent of Kingfisher wastewater treatment plant has the highest concentration of BPA and needed to be treated before discharging into the river. The characteristics of the river water will affect the concentration of BPA