Occurrence of pharmaceutical compounds in urban wastewater: Removal, mass load and environmental risk after a secondary treatment—A review

Verlicchi, Paola; Aukidy, M. Al; Zambello, Elena

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.04.028

Cited by 1,792 publications

(929 citation statements)

References 148 publications

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“…Nevertheless, the differences pointed out in mass loads of WWTP effluents are also related with different consumption patterns of pharmaceuticals among countries, as well as differences in wastewater treatment processes employed in WWTPs or culture habits. Comparatively to the highest average daily mass loads of pharmaceuticals in WWTP effluents ranked by Verlicchi et al (2012b), in general, the mass loads found in this study were lower than those reported in literature, with the exception of sulfamethoxazole, lorazepam and pravastatin. However the highest average mass loads found in this study belong to iopromide and valsartan (7241 and 276 mg/d/ 1000 inhabitants, respectively), two pharmaceuticals not included in the cited work (Verlicchi et al, 2012b).…”

Section: Occurrence Of Pharmaceuticals In Urban Wastewaters: Loads Icontrasting

confidence: 83%

“…Therefore, the physico-chemical properties of pharmaceuticals, the origin and composition of wastewaters (urban, industrial, hospital, etc. ), and the operational conditions of WWTP, such as biomass, concentration, sludge retention time (SRT), hydraulic retention time (HRT), pH, temperature, configuration (aerobic, anaerobic and/or anoxic reactors) and type of plant are determinant factors for the removal of pharmaceuticals in conventional WWTPs (Verlicchi et al, 2012b).…”

Section: University Hospitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contribution of hospital effluents to the load of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters: Identification of ecologically relevant pharmaceuticals

Santos

Gros²,

Rodríguez-Mozaz³

et al. 2013

Science of The Total Environment

524

216

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The impact of effluent wastewaters from four different hospitals: a university (1456 beds), a general (350 beds), a pediatric (110 beds) and a maternity hospital (96 beds), which are conveyed to the same wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), was evaluated in the receiving urban wastewaters. The occurrence of 78 pharma-ceuticals belonging to several therapeutic classes was assessed in hospital effluents and WWTP wastewaters (influent and effluent) as well as the contribution of each hospital in WWTP influent in terms of pharmaceu-tical load. Results indicate that pharmaceuticals are widespread pollutants in both hospital and urban waste-waters. The contribution of hospitals to the input of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters widely varies, according to their dimension. The estimated total mass loadings were 306 g d − 1 for the university hospital, 155 g d − 1 for the general one, 14 g d −1 for the pediatric hospital and 1.5 g d − 1 for the maternity hospital, showing that the biggest hospitals have a greater contribution to the total mass load of pharmaceuticals. Fur-thermore, analysis of individual contributions of each therapeutic group showed that NSAIDs, analgesics and antibiotics are among the groups with the highest inputs. Removal efficiency can go from over 90% for pharmaceuticals like acetaminophen and ibuprofen to not removal for β-blockers and salbutamol. Total mass load of pharmaceuticals into receiving surface waters was estimated between 5 and 14 g/d/1000 inhabitants. Finally, the environmental risk posed by pharmaceuticals detected in hospital and WWTP effluents was assessed by means of hazard quotients toward different trophic levels (algae, daphnids and fish). Several pharmaceuticals present in the different matrices were identified as potentially hazardous to aquatic organ-isms, showing that especial attention should be paid to antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, sulfameth-oxazole, azithromycin and clarithromycin, since their hazard quotients in WWTP effluent revealed that they could pose an ecotoxicological risk to algae.

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Section: Occurrence Of Pharmaceuticals In Urban Wastewaters: Loads Icontrasting

confidence: 83%

Section: University Hospitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contribution of hospital effluents to the load of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters: Identification of ecologically relevant pharmaceuticals

Santos

Gros²,

Rodríguez-Mozaz³

et al. 2013

Science of The Total Environment

524

216

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The most persistent micropollutants (less than 10% removal on average) were the pharmaceuticals carbamazepine, clindamycin, diclofenac, gabapentin and metoprolol, the pesticides carbendazim and diuron, and most of the pharmaceutical metabolites. All these compounds have been reported as persistent in many studies (Kupper et al, 2006;Oulton et al, 2010;Singer et al, 2010;Verlicchi et al, 2012). Some compounds such as the antibiotic clindamycin, the beta blocker metoprolol and most of the pharmaceutical metabolites were found at higher concentrations (in the dissolved phase) in the effluent of the biological treatment than in the influent.…”

Section: Biological Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Treatment of micropollutants in municipal wastewater: Ozone or powdered activated carbon?

Margot

Kienle

Magnet³

et al. 2013

Science of The Total Environment

671

404

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Highlights• Micropollutants are efficiently removed by both ozone and powdered activated carbon• Specific substances were removed more efficiently by ozone• Powdered activated carbon effectively removed a wider range of pollutants• Both treatments significantly reduced the toxicity of WWTP effluent AbstractMany organic micropollutants present in wastewater, such as pharmaceuticals and pesticides, are poorly removed in conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). To reduce the release of these substances into the aquatic environment, advanced wastewater treatments are necessary. In this context, two large-scale pilot advanced treatments were tested in parallel over more than one year at the municipal WWTP of Lausanne, Switzerland. The treatments were: i) oxidation by ozone followed by sand filtration (SF) and ii) powdered activated carbon (PAC) adsorption followed by either ultrafiltration (UF) or sand filtration. More than 70 potentially problematic substances (pharmaceuticals, pesticides, endocrine disruptors, drugs metabolites and other common chemicals) were regularly measured at different stages of treatment. Additionally, several ecotoxicological tests such as the yeast estrogen screen, a combined algae bioassay and a fish early life stage test were performed to evaluate effluent toxicity. Both treatments significantly improved the effluent quality. Micropollutants were removed on average over 80% compared with raw wastewater, with an average ozone dose of 5.7 mg O 3 l -1 or a PAC dose between 10 and 20 mg l -1 . Depending on the chemical properties of the substances (presence of electron-rich moieties, charge and hydrophobicity), either ozone or PAC performed better. Both advanced treatments led to a clear reduction in toxicity of the effluents, with PAC-UF performing slightly better overall. As both treatments had, on average, relatively similar efficiency, further criteria relevant to their implementation were considered, including local constraints (e.g., safety, sludge disposal, disinfection), operational feasibility and cost. For sensitive receiving waters (drinking water resources or recreational waters), the PAC-UF treatment, despite its current higher cost, was considered to be the most suitable option, enabling good removal of most micropollutants and macropollutants without forming problematic by-products, the strongest decrease in toxicity and a total disinfection of the effluent.

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“…Pharmaceuticals have been found in aquatic systems globally, due to a combination of worldwide usage and low removal efficiency in sewage treatment plants (STPs) or a lack of STPs [19][20][21][22][23]. In surface waters, concentrations of pharmaceuticals usually range from low ng l 21 to low mg l 21 , and are correlated to human population density in the drainage area, volume of the receiving water body and technologies used in STPs [21,24,25], but certain point sources, such as pharmaceutical production and manufacturing facilities, can result in concentrations as high as mg l 21 in receiving surface waters [25 -27].…”

Section: (A) Pharmaceuticals In Freshwater Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological effects of pharmaceuticals in aquatic systems—impacts through behavioural alterations

Brodin

Piovano

Fick

et al. 2014

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

396

257

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The study of animal behaviour is important for both ecology and ecotoxicology, yet research in these two fields is currently developing independently. Here, we synthesize the available knowledge on drug-induced behavioural alterations in fish, discuss potential ecological consequences and report results from an experiment in which we quantify both uptake and behavioural impact of a psychiatric drug on a predatory fish ( Perca fluviatilis ) and its invertebrate prey ( Coenagrion hastulatum ). We show that perch became more active while damselfly behaviour was unaffected, illustrating that behavioural effects of pharmaceuticals can differ between species. Furthermore, we demonstrate that prey consumption can be an important exposure route as on average 46% of the pharmaceutical in ingested prey accumulated in the predator. This suggests that investigations of exposure through bioconcentration, where trophic interactions and subsequent bioaccumulation of exposed individuals are ignored, underestimate exposure. Wildlife may therefore be exposed to higher levels of behaviourally altering pharmaceuticals than predictions based on commonly used exposure assays and pharmaceutical concentrations found in environmental monitoring programmes.

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Occurrence of pharmaceutical compounds in urban wastewater: Removal, mass load and environmental risk after a secondary treatment—A review

Cited by 1,792 publications

References 148 publications

Contribution of hospital effluents to the load of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters: Identification of ecologically relevant pharmaceuticals

Contribution of hospital effluents to the load of pharmaceuticals in urban wastewaters: Identification of ecologically relevant pharmaceuticals

Treatment of micropollutants in municipal wastewater: Ozone or powdered activated carbon?

Ecological effects of pharmaceuticals in aquatic systems—impacts through behavioural alterations

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