Pharmaceuticals as emerging organic contaminants in Umgeni River water system, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

The occurrences of pharmaceuticals and personal care products as emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) have been reported in several countries of the world except from African countries. This study was therefore conducted to investigate the occurrence of nine antibiotics, five antipyretics, atenolol, bezafibrate, and caffeine in wastewater and surface water samples from the Umgeni River. The water samples were extracted with solid-phase extraction using hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) and C-18 cartridges for the acidic and neutral drugs, respectively. The quantification was carried out with high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) using the standard addition method. The method limits of detections were in the range of 0.14-0.97 μg/L while the recoveries were between 53.8 and 108.1 %. The wastewater had 100 % occurrence of the analytes studied, with caffeine having the highest concentration at 61 ± 5 μg/L and nalidixic acid being the most observed antibiotic at 31 ± 3 μg/L. The waste treatment process reduced the influent concentrations by 43.0-94.2 % before discharge except for atenolol removal that is lower. The concentrations of the analytes were lower in the surface water with most compounds having concentrations below 10 μg/L except acetaminophen and atenolol. The estuary mouth and Blue Lagoon had the highest concentrations of some of the compounds in surface water which depict downstream load. The factors governing the fate and mobility of these compounds in this environment are not fully understood yet and will require further studies.

Human-use antibacterial residues in the natural environment of China: implication for ecopharmacovigilance

“…Segura et al (2009) has systematically reviewed data in the peer-reviewed literature concerning the environmental occurrence of antibacterials in 2009 and concluded antibacterial residues had been found in the environment of many countries in Europe, America, Australia, and East Asia. Later studies added the abundant evidence with the appearance of continued entry of antibacterials to the environment in Africa (Agunbiade and Moodley 2014) and Southeast Asia (Suzuki and Hoa 2012). Especially, China is a large country with high production and consumption of antibacterials for its population growth and economic development in recent years.…”

Review: <i>Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) as endocrine disrupting contaminants (EDCs) in South African surface waters</i>

“…The PPCPs which are the most frequently detected in surface waters worldwide are antibiotics and biocides. Regularlyprescribed antibiotic pharmaceuticals, such as ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin, sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, and tylosin, have all been detected in South African river systems (Table 1; Agunbiade and Moodley, 2014). These compounds have all been shown to have endocrine-disrupting effects.…”

Surface Water and Groundwater Quality in South Africa and Mozambique—Analysis of the Most Critical Pollutants for Drinking Purposes and Challenges in Water Treatment Selection

“…The collected data are reported in Figures 8 and 9, grouped according to their class. [20,[24][25][26]40,43,45,46,48,49,55,59,60]. It emerges that the most frequently monitored classes were antibiotics (372 values), analgesics and anti-inflammatories (347 values), psychiatric drugs (155 values), and antivirals (154 values).…”