Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have recently been detected in the aquatic environment. Many studies have identified domestic waste water discharge as the source for detectable concentrations of PPCPs in surface water. PPCPs are a concern for the aquatic environment when production and use are sufficiently large and physicochemical properties are appropriate. Hydrophilic PPCPs present in surface water or waste water may also affect ground water quality where water is used to recharge ground water. However, less is known about how efficiently PPCPs are removed during percolation through the subsurface. The scope of this study was to examine the fate of selected PPCPs during ground water recharge at two water reuse sites where secondary and tertiary treated waste water is used for subsequent ground water recharge. The ground water recharge sites selected differ in aboveground treatment and geohydrological settings. The selected pharmaceutials represent blood lipid regulators, analgesics/anti‐inflammatories, blood viscosity agents, and antiepileptics. Organic iodine was used as a surrogate parameter for X‐ray contrast agents. Composite samples of treated waste water and from ground water monitoring wells were collected and analyzed for Pharmaceuticals using gas chromatography with mass spectroscopic detection. The study revealed that the stimulant caffeine, analgesic/anti‐inflammatory drugs such as diclofenac, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, and fenoprofen, and blood lipid regulators such as gemfibrozil were efficiently removed to concentrations near or below the detection limit of the analytical method after retention times of less than six months during ground water recharge. The antiepileptics carbamazepine and primidone were not removed during ground water recharge under either anoxic saturated or aerobic unsaturated flow conditions during travel times of up to eight years. Organic iodine showed a partial removal only under anoxic, saturated conditions as compared to aerobic conditions and persisted in the recharged ground water.

Recently, the occurrence and fate of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in the aquatic environment was recognized as one of the emerging issues in environmental chemistry and as a matter of public concern. Residues of PhACs have been found as contaminants in sewage, surface, and ground- and drinking water samples. Since June 2000, a new long-term monitoring program of sewage, surface, ground- and drinking water has been carried out in Berlin, Germany. Samples, collected periodically from selected sites in the Berlin area, are investigated for residues of PhACs and related contaminants. The purpose of this monitoring is to investigate these compounds over a long time period to get more reliable data on their occurrence and fate in the different aquatic compartments. Moreover, the surface water investigations allow the calculation of season-dependent contaminant loads in the Berlin waters. In the course of the monitoring program, PhACs and some other polar compounds were detected at concentrations up to the microg/L-level in all compartments of the Berlin water cycle. The monitoring is accompanied and supported by several other investigations such as laboratory column experiments and studies on bank filtration and drinking water treatment using conventional or membrane filtration techniques.

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The scope of this study was directed to examine different wastewater treatment technologies (activated sludge, trickling filter, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis) at full-scale facilities in Arizona and California leading to indirect potable reuse and their capability to remove pharmaceuticals. Additionally, the fate of selected pharmaceuticals was studied during soil-aquifer treatment (SAT) at sites where secondary and tertiary treated effluents are used for subsequent groundwater recharge. Facilities employing longer detention times during treatment (nitrifying and denitrifying plants) showed significant lower effluent concentration for analgesic drugs as compared to trickling filter or activated sludge facilities applying shorter detention times. A similar trend was observed for the lipid regulator gemfibrozil, which was significantly removed in denitrified effluents, whereas a trickling filter treated effluent exhibited concentration of 1,235 ng/L. Antiepileptic drugs, such as carbamazepine and primidone, showed no dependency on the wastewater treatment applied. None of the investigated drugs was detected in tertiary treated effluents after nanofiltration or reverse osmosis. After SAT, analgesic/anti-inflammatory drugs were efficiently removed after retention times of less than 6 months and remaining concentrations were near or below the detection limit of the analytical method. A high potential for biodegradation was also observed for anti-inflammatory drugs in groundwater recharge systems. The antiepileptics carbamazepine and primidone represented the most dominant of all investigated drugs in well treated domestic effluents (nitrifying/denitrifying plants). Removal of carbamazepine and primidone did not seem to occur during travel times of more than 6 years in the subsurface.

Multi-compound methods for the detection of pharmaceutical residues in various waters applying solid phase extraction (SPE) and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric (GC-MS) detection This paper describes two highly sensitive analytical methods for the unambiguous determination of pharmaceutical residues and related polar contaminants in environmental water samples. Both analytical methods use solid phase extraction (SPE), chemical derivatization, and detection of the analytes by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with selected ion monitoring (SIM). Using the two methods, a total of 19 pharmaceuticals and 7 related polar contaminants, most of them pesticides, can be detected and quantified down to the low ng/L range in sewage, surface, ground, and drinking water. Recoveries between 70 and 110% and standard deviations of less than 15% were determined for 21 analytes when applying the analytical method that uses pentafluorobenzyl bromide (PFBBr) for derivatization. The second method, which employs N-(t-butyldimethylsilyl)-N-methyltrifluoroacetamide (MTBSTFA) for derivatization was found to be slightly less sensitive and reproducible but it also permitted the analysis of several other environmentally important compounds such as the antiepileptic drugs carbamazepine or primidone. From spiking experiments, limits of detection (LODs) between less than 1 and 10 ng/L and limits of quantification (LOQs) between 1 and 40 ng/L were calculated.