Harnessing Natural Attenuation of Pharmaceuticals and Hormones in Rivers

Abstract

Harnessing Natural Attenuation of PHARMACEUTICALS and HORMONES in RIVERS W ater scarcity has become a harsh reality in many parts of the world. In the past, water needs were often met by building large dams and importing water over long distances. This approach is proving increasingly infeasible because social and environmental costs are too high (1).As the increased need for dependable water resources mirrors the growth in population, many communities are turning to reclaimed water to meet their demands. A guiding vision for managing water supplies is to "close the water loop": Consumers from large cities to individual households use and repeatedly reuse their local water resources, drastically reducing the need to import water. Currently, nonpotable reuse is the most common form of water reclamation. For example, Table 1 summarizes the volumes of water treated for reuse in California in 2002.Pressure to reuse water is increasing, and natural processes may be an easy and cheap approach to removing many contaminants of concern.

Investigation of pharmaceuticals, personal care products and endocrine disrupting chemicals in a tropical urban catchment and the influence of environmental factors

“…Hence, precipitation is one of the governing factors affecting concentrations of PPCPs in urban surface water (Benotti and Brownawell, 2007). Furthermore, natural attenuation of EOCs in the environment can be affected by sorption, biodegradation, photo-transformation, hydrolysis processes and dilution (Gurr and Reinhard, 2006).…”

Occurrence and fate of triclosan and triclocarban in a subtropical river and its estuary

“…Natural attenuation, a combination of naturally occurring processes, can reduce concentrations of pollutants during river flow (Gurr and Reinhard, 2006). The possible mechanisms of natural attenuation that could attenuate TCS and TCC in the river include dilution due to wastewater discharges or dilution due to rainfall, sorption, photolysis and biodegradation.…”

Oceanografia e Química: unindo conhecimentos em prol dos oceanos e da sociedade

“…Muitos produtos, como é o caso de alguns fármacos, retardantes de chama, alquilfenóis, hidrocarbonetos, pesticidas, entre outros, que apresentam conhecida interferência endócrina [125][126][127] e drogas ilícitas 128,129 não são eficazmente retidos nos sistemas de tratamento de águas e esgotos e mesmo em concentrações diminutas, devidos a processos de atenuação, tendem a chegar à zona costeira e, potencialmente, aos oceanos. 130 No passado, muitas previsões foram feitas para os rumos da Química Ambiental, da química das águas naturais e da Oceanografia Química, 131,132 várias das quais se materializaram. O futuro aponta para que as pesquisas sejam cada vez mais interdisciplinares, nas quais a questão da sustentabilidade e a química limpa desempenharão um papel fundamental.…”