Correlation of six anthropogenic markers in wastewater, surface water, bank filtrate, and soil aquifer treatment

Abstract

Six trace contaminants (acesulfame (ACE), sucralose (SUC), carbamazepine (CBZ), diatrizoic acid (DTA), 1H-benzotriazole (BTZ) and its 4-methyl analogue (4-TTri)) were traced from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to receiving waters and further to riverbank filtration (RBF) wells to evaluate their prediction power as potential wastewater markers. Furthermore, the persistence of some compounds was investigated in advanced wastewater treatment by soil aquifer treatment (SAT). During wastewater treatment in four conventional activated sludge WWTPs ACE, SUC, and CBZ showed a pronounced stability expressed by stable concentration ratios in influent (in) and effluent (out) (ACE/CBZ: in45, out40; SUC/CBZ: in1.8, out1.7; and ACE/SUC: in24, out24). In a fifth WWTP, additional treatment with powdered activated carbon led to a strong elimination of CBZ, BTZ, and 4-TTri of about 80% and consequently to a distinctive shift of their ratios with unaffected compounds. Data from a seven month monitoring program at seven sampling locations at the rivers Rhine and Main in Germany revealed the best concentration correlation for ACE and CBZ (r(2) = 0.94) and also a good correlation of ACE and CBZ concentrations to BTZ and 4-TTri levels (r(2) = 0.66 to 0.82). The comparison of ratios at different sampling sites allowed for the identification of a CBZ point source. Furthermore, in Switzerland a higher consumption of SUC compared to Germany can be assumed, as a steadily increasing ACE/SUC ratio along the river Rhine was observed. In RBF wells a good correlation (r(2) = 0.85) was again observed for ACE and CBZ. Both also showed the highest stability at a prolonged residence time in the subsurface of a SAT field. In the most peripheral wells ACE and CBZ were still detected with mean values higher than 36 µg L(-1) and 1.3 µg L(-1), respectively. Although SUC concentrations in wastewater used for SAT decreased by more than 80% from about 18 µg L(-1) to 2.1 µg L(-1) and 3.5 µg L(-1) in these outlying wells, the compound was still adequate to indicate a wastewater impact in a qualitative way.

Advancing Sequential Managed Aquifer Recharge Technology (SMART) Using Different Intermediate Oxidation Processes

“…While rapid degradation of iomeprol and iopromid is known from bank filtration and groundwater recharge sites [15,32,33], efficient removal of acesulfame and valsartan was not expected. Acesulfame has been reported as a rather persistent compound and was even proposed as a conservative wastewater marker [34][35][36]. However, Zucker et al also revealed efficient degradation of acesulfame under certain (mostly oxic) conditions [37].…”

Recent Advances in the Use of Chemical Markers for Tracing Wastewater Contamination in Aquatic Environment: A Review

“…For this reason, SUC has been proposed as chemical markers for wastewater contamination. Scheurer et al [97] reported that compounds with a pronounced stability during wastewater treatment are ACE, SUC and CBZ. They found that CBZ and ACE could be used to predict the source accurately if the influence of point sources and regional differences is limited.…”

“…They also found that concentrations of SAC and CYC were source-specific. Due to their recalcitrance to transformation, persistence, high water solubility, low adsorption capacity on soils, reliable analytical method and short analysis time, ASs have been considered as ideal wastewater markers [26,97]. Batchu [98] developed an online solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography with high resolution mass spectrometry for the detection of sucralose in aqueous samples and applied this method to detect sucralose in 17 oceanic and estuarine sites in Broward County.…”

Photo Degradation of Cotnaminants of Emerging concern (CECs) under Simulated Solar Radiation: Implications for their Environmental Fate

“…Sucralose has become the most detected unregulated chemical and artificial sweetener in wastewater, surface water and groundwater samples (Lange et al, 2012a). A worldwide comparison of the occurrence of sucralose in STPs and wastewaters is presented in Table 3 and the mass load per capita in the different countries were estimated (BrorstromLunden et al, 2008;Brorström-Lundén et al, 2008;Buerge et al, 2009a;Scheurer et al, 2009a;Neset et al, 2010;Minten et al, 2011a;Morlock et al, 2011;Oppenheimer et al, 2011b;Scheurer et al, 2011;Torres et al, 2011;Berset and Ochsenbein, 2012;Ordonez et al, 2012b;Gan et al, 2013). The average effluent daily flow for China and European Union (EU) was calculated based on the general guideline suggested by Imhoff (1985), which estimates that 200 L of waste is produced per capita (Imhoff and Imhoff, 1985;UNEP, 2000;Heeb et al, 2012).…”

“…In a combined test designed to check both biodegradation and sorption of 17 antibiotics in STPs, Gartiser et al found that most of the antibiotics showed minimal or insignificant biodegradation and low to moderate sorption (Gartiser et al, 2007), thus leading to their frequent detections in STP effluents (Gulkowska et al, 2008;Gao et al, 2012). Scheurer et al showed that sucralose was even persistent to advanced treatments employed in wastewater treatment plants including soil aquifer treatment and powdered activated carbon and thus making it a valuable tracer of wastewater intrusions (Scheurer et al, 2011). The data on the biodegradation of DOSS were limited and contradictory (Kujawinski et al, 2011;Campo et al, 2013 portion of their removal in the environment would be by photodegradation.…”