Riverbank filtration potential of pharmaceuticals in a wastewater-impacted stream

Abstract

Pharmaceutical contamination of shallow groundwater is a substantial concern in effluent-dominated streams, due to high aqueous mobility, designed bioactivity, and effluent-driven hydraulic gradients. In October and December 2012, effluent contributed approximately 99% and 71%, respectively, to downstream flow in Fourmile Creek, Iowa, USA. Strong hydrologic connectivity was observed between surface-water and shallow-groundwater. Carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole, and immunologically-related compounds were detected in groundwater at greater than 0.02 μg L(-1) at distances up to 6 m from the stream bank. Direct aqueous-injection HPLC-MS/MS revealed 43% and 55% of 110 total pharmaceutical analytes in surface-water samples in October and December, respectively, with 16% and 6%, respectively, detected in groundwater approximately 20 m from the stream bank. The results demonstrate the importance of effluent discharge as a driver of local hydrologic conditions in an effluent-impacted stream and thus as a fundamental control on surface-water to groundwater transport of effluent-derived pharmaceutical contaminants.

A Novel Method to Characterise Levels of Pharmaceutical Pollution in Large-Scale Aquatic Monitoring Campaigns

“…The fluoroquinolones ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin were the only APIs detected above quantification levels in the upstream sample (54.3 and 185.6 ng/L respectively), potentially due to upstream agricultural pressures or other urban sources (e.g., leaking sewer lines or septic systems). The total API concentration was lowest upstream of the WWTP (239.9 ng/L), highest in the WWTP effluent (10,373 ng/L) and attenuated (from 5561.5 to 3699.4 ng/L) with increasing distance downstream from the WWTP outfall ( Figure 5) as one would expect in an effluent-dominated system [25]. At the time of sampling, 55% of Muddy Creek flow downstream from the WWTP consisted of sewage plant effluent.…”

Tissue-specific uptake of the benzodiazepine oxazepam in adult Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis)

“…[25] This could indicate intraspecific differences. However, sewage effluents generally contain a mixture of various complex organic compounds including other contaminants and other pharmaceuticals and personal care products, [3,17,25,34] which may influence the bioconcentration potential of individual pharmaceuticals. [35] Furthermore, it is important to remember that differences in temperature and water properties, [36] and in fish size, age and condition [6] may complicate comparisons across species and studies because these factors have the potential to influence the level of bioconcentration.…”

“…Owing to often high prescription rates, and limited removal of excreted bioactive forms in wastewater treatment plants, various psychiatric pharmaceuticals end up in aquatic environments. [1][2][3][4][5] There, exposure to those pharmaceutical residues may affect aquatic wildlife [6][7][8] because many biological systems (e.g. enzymes, receptors) that pharmaceuticals interact with are evolutionarily conserved across a wide range of species.…”

Sorption, photodegradation, and chemical transformation of naproxen and ibuprofen in soils and water

“…Previous studies have looked at sorption of ibuprofen and reported lower soil sorption coefficients for this acidic PhAC (Loffler et al, 2005) especially as compared to basic PhACs (Yamamoto et al, 2009). There is evidence that PhACs can be attenuated during transport by soil materials into groundwater from surface water (Bradley et al, 2014). Degradation occurring in the soil environment has been observed to result in PhAC transformation products due to chemical transformations of the parent compound (Dodgen et al, 2014;Li et al, 2014).…”