Contamination of surface, ground, and drinking water from pharmaceutical production

Abstract

Low levels of pharmaceuticals are detected in surface, ground, and drinking water worldwide. Usage and incorrect disposal have been considered the major environmental sources of these microcontaminants. Recent publications, however, suggest that wastewater from drug production can potentially be a source of much higher concentrations in certain locations. The present study investigated the environmental fate of active pharmaceutical ingredients in a major production area for the global bulk drug market. Water samples were taken from a common effluent treatment plant near Hyderabad, India, which receives process water from approximately 90 bulk drug manufacturers. Surface water was analyzed from the recipient stream and from two lakes that are not contaminated by the treatment plant. Water samples were also taken from wells in six nearby villages. The samples were analyzed for the presence of 12 pharmaceuticals with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. All wells were determined to be contaminated with drugs. Ciprofloxacin, enoxacin, cetirizine, terbinafine, and citalopram were detected at more than 1 microg/L in several wells. Very high concentrations of ciprofloxacin (14 mg/L) and cetirizine (2.1 mg/L) were found in the effluent of the treatment plant, together with high concentrations of seven additional pharmaceuticals. Very high concentrations of ciprofloxacin (up to 6.5 mg/L), cetirizine (up to 1.2 mg/L), norfloxacin (up to 0.52 mg/L), and enoxacin (up to 0.16 mg/L) were also detected in the two lakes, which clearly shows that the investigated area has additional environmental sources of insufficiently treated industrial waste. Thus, insufficient wastewater management in one of the world's largest centers for bulk drug production leads to unprecedented drug contamination of surface, ground, and drinking water. This raises serious concerns regarding the development of antibiotic resistance, and it creates a major challenge for producers and regulatory agencies to improve the situation.

Occurrence and risk assessment of antibiotics in river water in Hong Kong

“…Some of the antibiotics, such as sulfonamides which are hydrolytically stable, hard to degrade in water and easy to be transported, are found in larger amounts in groundwater and surface water (Boxall et al, 2002;Stoob et al, 2007). Antibiotics, together with their degradation and metabolic products have been detected in many environmental compartments, including surface water (Tang et al, 2015), river water (Tamtam et al, 2008;Jiang et al, 2011;Li et al, 2015), seawater (Minh et al, 2009;Zou et al, 2011), municipal sewage (Li et al, 2009;Lindberg et al, 2010), sludge (Göbel et al, 2005;Lindberg et al, 2010), soil (Christian et al, 2003), sediment (Pei et al, 2006), groundwater (Standley et al, 2008;Fick et al, 2009;Teijon et al, 2010;López-Serna et al, 2013), and even drinking water (Yiruhan et al, 2010).…”

Environmentally relevant concentrations of citalopram partially inhibit feeding in the three-spine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

“…Citalopram and other SSRIs are frequently found in STP effluents and have been reported in concentrations between 0.02 and 840 µg/l (Larsson et al, 2007;Vasskog et al, 2008). They are commonly found in natural waters around the world (Fick et al, 2009;Vasskog et al, 2008;Woldegiorgis, A., 2011) and have been recorded in concentrations ranging from 0.5 ng/l to extremes around 76 µg/l (Fick et al, 2009). …”

The occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes in tap water – a review

“…Among proposed technologies are also: Fenton and ozone oxidation, photocatalytic processes, biodegradation and nanoparticles (the last, though applied in medical research, seems to enhance the conjugative transfer of ARGs among bacteria in terms of water treatment) [9]. Besides the monitoring of ARB and ARGs, the analyses of antibiotics and drugs concentrations in wastewaters, freshwater, and tap water should be implemented, as these agents are probably responsible for resistance promotion [62][63][64]. According to Schwartz et al, the exposure of susceptible and resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains to wastewater and tap water did not affect the expression of the intrinsic ARGs and MGEs [65], so the medium itself is not the main factor of the prevalence of resistance.…”