Temporal and spatial variable in-stream attenuation of selected pharmaceuticals

Comparison of environmental tracers including organic micropollutants as groundwater exfiltration indicators into a small river of a karstic catchment

“…The latter was identified as small and insensitive towards the mean travel time and was therefore not considered for further interpretation, especially with respect to the potentially larger effect of the measurement uncertainty in comparison to the effect of dispersion. More details of this method are described elsewhere (Glaser et al, 2020). Mean travel time and the respective distance between the sampling sites can be used to compute the arrival time of a certain water parcel at a selected sampling site.…”

“…The mean dry weather effluent flow rate from the WWTP is 0.10–0.12 m 3 s −1 . Further details on WWTP flow during the sampling period can be found in Glaser et al (2020). A 5,880 m long river reach downstream of the WWTP was selected for our investigations (Figure 2) where a distance of 0 m denotes the most upstream sampling location.…”

“…For ion samples, 100 ml amber glass bottles were used and rinsed with spring water before sampling. Processing after sampling, sample preparation and analysis of major ions are described in more detail in Glaser et al (2020), organic micropollutant analysis is described in Müller et al (2018). Ion chromatography (DX 500, DIONEX) was used for the determination of ion concentrations, and organic micropollutants were measured by a tandem mass spectrometry using an Agilent 6490 iFunnel Triple Quadrupole (QqQ) instrument ( Agilent Technologies ; see Glaser et al, 2020, for more details).…”

“…The persistent behaviour of a selected compound is indispensable for its successful application as a tracer, but the persistence may be river‐specific. The analgesic tramadol for example was described to undergo attenuation processes in a river (Li, Sobek, & Radke, 2016), whereas other studies indicate a conservative character(e.g., Glaser et al, 2020). Concentrations of WWTP‐derived compounds in small rivers often show a diurnal signal due to changing discharge from the WWTP (Schwientek et al, 2016).…”

Indicative Lake Water Quality Assessment Using Remote Sensing Images-Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown

“…The quality of freshwater bodies depends on diverse anthropogenic, hydrogeological, and environmental factors such as (i) discharge of untreated effluents from industries and residential areas; (ii) proximity of water bodies to agricultural, mining, and waste disposal areas; (ii) possibility of saline water intrusion; (iii) extreme climatic events such as hurricane/storm, drought, and flood; (iv) weather conditions like temperature, rainfall, wind, and evaporation [11,12]; and (v) soil type, aquatic, and terrestrial vegetation. The pollutants reaching water bodies from different sources are subjected to various physical, biological, and chemical attenuation processes and will undergo a considerable reduction in concentration, toxicity, and volume [13,14]. However, the anthropogenic activities substantially influence the self-cleansing process of water bodies [15].…”