Occurrence and sources of hormones in water resources—environmental and health impact

Abstract Within recent years, hormones have become emergent contaminants in the water environment. They easily accumulate in living organisms which in effect leads to numerous health problems (endocrine-disrupting mechanism is one of the most known toxic effects). Microbial resistance to antibiotics also became one of the emergent issues related to hormone presence. It was shown that the most common in the environment occur estrogens (E1, E2, E3, and EE2). It has been proven that large amounts of hormones are released from aquaculture as well as from wastewater treatment plants (due to the relatively low separation efficiency of conventional wastewater treatment processes). Within the article’s scope, the literature review was performed. The analysis was regarding the characterization of the hormone substances present in the environment, their influence on living organisms and the environment, as well as its potential sources classification.