Adding the Mureş River Basin (Transylvania, Romania) to the List of Hotspots with High Contamination with Pharmaceuticals

Abstract

Background: The Mureș River Basin is a long-term heavily polluted watershed, in a situation of climate changes with decreasing water flow and related decreasing dilution capacity. Here, a mixture of emerging pollutants such as pharmaceuticals were targeted to reveal potential risks regarding the natural lotic ecosystems. Due to the continuous discharge into the environment, pharmaceuticals are gaining persistent organic pollutant characteristics and are considered emerging pollutants. Based on the hazard quotient, this research highlights the dangerous concentrations of carbamazepine, ibuprofen, furosemide, and enalapril in river water. Results: High levels of four pharmaceutical compounds (carbamazepine, ibuprofen, furosemide, and enalapril) and some of their derived metabolites (enalaprilat, carboxyibuprofen, 1-hydroxyibuprofen, and 2-hydroxyibuprofen) were reported in our study in the Mureș River Basin. Overall, pharmaceutical concentrations were found to be highest in the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, median downstream of the WWTP, and lowest upstream of the WWTP, as was expected. For all pharmaceutical compounds tested, we recorded concentrations above the limit of quantification (LOQ) in at least one of the sites tested. Carbamazepine exhibited the highest mean values upstream, downstream, and at the WWTP. As expected, the highest concentrations for all the studied pharmaceutical compounds were detected in the WWTP effluent. All Hazard Quotient (HQ) values were below one (on a logarithmic scale in base 10), with the highest values in the WWTP and the lowest in the river upstream of the WWTP. The HQ intervals were in the same range for furosemide, carbamazepine, and ibuprofen at each of the three different sites: upstream WWTP effluent, and downstream. The interval for enalapril stands out as having the lowest HQ at all three sites. Conclusions: Based on these results, the large and complex hydrographical system Mureș River Basin was transformed from a grey area, with little information about pharmaceutical contamination, to a hotspot in terms of contamination with emerging pollutants. Pharmaceutical compound concentrations were found to be the highest in WWTP effluents. The WWTP effluent concentrations were among the highest in Europe, indicating that treatment plants are the primary source of water pollution with pharmaceuticals compounds. The detected levels were higher than the safety limit for carbamazepine and ibuprofen. The determined HQ values imply that the measured levels do pose a threat to the environment for the studied pharmaceuticals. Based on the obtained results, human communities can assess, monitor, predict, and adapt in time to these already-present regional challenges and risks for sustainable use of natural resources, including water and associated products and services.

Emerging and Persistent Pollutants in the Aquatic Ecosystems of the Lower Danube Basin and North West Black Sea Region—A Review

“…Fluconazole concentration of 3390 ng/L and sulfamethoxazole of 1290 ng/L were measured for the same sampling site. Additionally, metabolites such as 4-acetamidoantipyrine (maximum concentration of 1611 ng/L) and 10,11-dihydro-10,11-dihydroxycarbamazepine (2858 ng/L) were detected in a higher concentration than the parent compounds [26], a fact that has been reported to occur in wastewater samples [51], and demonstrates the impact of uncontrolled discharge.…”

“…Among NSADs, the most reported was ibuprofen, followed by diclofenac. Substances found in fewer reports, but at very high concentrations were norephedrine (2633 ng/L in Dniester River), fluconazole (3390 ng/L in Dniester River) [26], and furosemide (444.63 ng/L in the Mures, River) [51].…”

“…Considering the studies on the Lower Danube River basin, the concentration of frequently monitored compounds in the surface water ranged as follows: carbamazepine 3.94-945 ng/L; diclofenac 0.8-255 ng/L; sulfamethoxazole 30-204 ng/L; trimethoprim 0.8-223 ng/L; ibuprofen 3.32-346 ng/L (Figure 2). Concentrations exceeding-EQS of carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, diclofenac, and erythromycin were found in the Danube tributaries such as Morava river [38], Argeş river [10,44,49], Mureş river [51], and Jijia river [53], in sites that are heavily impacted by municipal or industrial wastewater discharges. Thus, the highest concentrations of carbamazepine (945 ng/L), sulfamethoxazole (204 ng/L) and diclofenac (255 ng/L) were reported in the Arges River, highly affected by the municipal and industrial discharges of the capital of Romania, the city of Bucharest.…”

Proposed Environmental Risk Management Elements in a Carpathian Valley Basin, within the Roşia Montană European Historical Mining Area

“…Significant overshoots are also noted in the suspension, fixed residues, manganese and partly copper and cadmium indicators [ 43 ]. Other toxic substances, as for example persistent organic pollutions and pharmaceuticals [ 44 , 45 , 46 ], impact synergically and diminish the ecological state of the Mureş River, the main tributary of the Tisa River.…”

An In Silico and In Vitro Study for Investigating Estrogenic Endocrine Effects of Emerging Persistent Pollutants Using Primary Hepatocytes from Grey Mullet (Mugil cephalus)

“…In the present work, we focused our attention on the ability of perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and enalapril (ENA) to interfere with estrogen receptor signaling using a combined in silico/in vitro approach. The selected compounds belong to the most frequently detected classes of emerging EDCs in the aquatic environment such as PFAS and pharmaceuticals [31][32][33][34][35]. The Endocrine Disruptome program package was used to predict their potential interference with nuclear ERs in silico.…”