Screening Analysis of Human Pharmaceutical Compounds in U.S. Surface Waters

Abstract

The PhATE (Pharmaceutical Assessment and Transport Evaluation) model presented in this paper was developed as a tool to estimate concentrations of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in U.S. surface waters that result from patient use (or consumption) of medicines. PhATE uses a mass balance approach to model predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) in 11 watersheds selected to be representative of most hydrologic regions of the United States. The model divides rivers into discrete segments. It estimates the mass of API that enters a segment from upstream or from publicly owned treatment works (POTW) and is subsequently lost from the segment via in-stream loss mechanisms or flow diversions (i.e., man-made withdrawals). POTW discharge loads are estimated based on the population served, the API use per capita, the potential loss of the compound associated with human use (e.g., metabolism), and the portion of the API mass removed in the POTW. Simulations using three surrogate compounds showthat PECs generated by PhATE are generally within an order of magnitude of measured concentrations and that the cumulative probability distribution of PECs for all watersheds included in PhATE is consistent with the nationwide distribution of measured concentrations of the surrogate compounds. Model simulations for 11 APIs yielded four categories of results. (1) PECs fit measured data for two compounds. (2) PECs are below analytical method detection limits and thus are consistent with measured data for three compounds. (3) PECs are higher than (i.e., not consistent with) measured data for three compounds. However, this may be the consequence of as yet unidentified depletion mechanisms. (4) PECs are several orders of magnitude below some measured data but consistentwith most measured data forthree compounds. For the fourth category, closer examination of sampling locations suggests that the field-measured concentrations for these compounds do not accurately reflect human use. Overall, these results demonstrate that PhATE may be used to predict screening-level concentrations of APIs and related compounds in the environment as well as to evaluate the suitability of existing fate information for an API.

Review of risk from potential emerging contaminants in UK groundwater

“…ADIs were used to estimate PNECs for both drinking water and fish ingestion. The PNECs were compared to measured environmental concentrations (MECs) from the published literature and to maximum PECs generated using the regional assessment models PhATE TM (Anderson et al, 2004) for North America and GREAT-ER (Feijtel et al, 1997) for Europe. The model predictions assumed low river flow and no depletion (no metabolism, no removal during wastewater or drinking water treatment, and no instream depletion).…”

Characteristics of Effluent Wastewater in Hospitals of Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran

“…Wastewater of hospitals where patients with enteric diseases are hospitalized is a particular problem during outbreaks of diarrheal diseases (1,6,15,16). In the present study, total coliforms (TC) and total heterotrophic bacteria counts (THBC) were indicators of the presence of microorganisms.…”

“…Hospital wastewater effluents contain pathogenic microorganisms, pharmaceutical partially metabolized, radioactive elements and other heavy metals and toxic chemical compounds such as Cu, Fe, Cd, Pb, Hg, Ni, Pt, Cyanide, Phenol and others (2,4,12,13). Hospitals discharge plenty of undesired potential pathogens like antibiotic-resistant bacteria and viruses (14)(15)(16)(17)(18). These hazardous agents which remain in wastewater treatment plants can provoke the pollution of the natural environment by causing biological imbalances (5).…”

A probabilistic method for species sensitivity distributions taking into account the inherent uncertainty and variability of effects to estimate environmental risk

“…The mean and low flow predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) of triclosan in US surface waters (recomputed by means of data provided by Anderson et al [2004] …”

“…Figure 3A shows the PSSD (see Figure 2A) modeled in the first case study with mean and low flow PECs for triclosan in US surface waters recomputed by means of data provided by Anderson et al (2004). The overlapping areas of PECs and effect concentrations (PSSD) show the degree of risk.…”