Evaluating the stability of prescription drugs in municipal wastewater and sewers based on wastewater-based epidemiology

Identification of biomarkers in wastewater-based epidemiology: Main approaches and analytical methods

“…These reviews categorized biomarkers depending a little bit on the authors criterion but in all cases consumption, exposure, health/disease and lifestyle/consumption are main drivers of these classifications. Studies focus on consumption of mostly illicit drugs [ 19 , 23 , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] ] but also food [ 42 , 43 ], artificial sweeteners [ 44 , 45 ], alcohol [ [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] ], caffeine [ 52 , 53 ], nicotine [ 47 , [51] , [52] , [53] ] and/or tobacco [ [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] ], new psychoactive substances [ 39 , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] ], opioids [ 18 , 64 , 65 ], pharmaceuticals [ 22 , 34 , 53 , [66] , [67] , [68] , [69] , [70] , [71] , [72] ] and personal care products [ 34 ] are the most common. These studies are the most elaborated, as especially in the case of drugs of abuse, work has been ongoing since 2005 and there has been a major effort by many research groups to collaborate many times disinterestedly to systematize the methodology and address the drawbacks.…”

Degradation of Selected Antidepressants Sertraline and Citalopram in Ultrapure Water and Surface Water Using Gamma Radiation

“…The determination of drug residues in environmental matrices at very low levels is possible due to the continuous development of new, more sensitive and accurate analytical methods and techniques [16][17][18]. Numerous methods for the analytical determination of biological and environmental matrices involve sample clean-up and preconcentration steps, using primarily solid-phase extraction (SPE) with different sorbents, and then reversed phase HPLC with tandem mass spectrometry detection (LC/MS/MS) [18][19][20][21][22]. The regular identification of pharmaceuticals, including sertraline and citalopram in the environment in surface water or wastewater, indicates that conventional wastewater treatment plants based mainly on activated sludge action are not effective against this type of pollution [23,24].…”

Biofilms in the gravity sewer interfaces: making a friend from a foe

“…The efficacy of the ''pre-treatment'' of wastewater in the sewer system is mainly dependent on the extension of this system, and consequently, the residence time of the wastewater. In addition, the availability of oxygen in some cases may be a prerequisite for the degradation of certain recalcitrant compounds (Hvitved-Jacobsen et al 2013;Lin et al 2021).…”

“…The development of bacterial biofilms can be stimulated by stress factors, including oxidative stress and the limitation of nutrients and gases (Flemming et al 2016). Such stresses are present in the relentlessly changing environment of sewer systems (Hvitved-Jacobsen et al 2013;Lin et al 2021). Thus, biofilm formation is unavoidable because it is supported mainly by the constant flow of wastewater continuously supplying new cells together with organic and inorganic matter (Hvitved-Jacobsen et al 2013).…”

“…Another problem is that this solution could be applied only in newly built sewers or as a gradual exchange of existing parts that have to be changed. Furthermore, including antimicrobial layers or substances may also increase the risk of accumulating antibiotic (multi)resistant and biocide-tolerant bacteria (Piotrowska et al 2020;Lin et al 2021).…”