Levels of pharmaceuticals in Slovene municipal and hospital wastewaters: a preliminary study

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals in wastewater have clearly raised concern and a broad range of analytical methods has been used to assess the risk as accurately as possible. The aim of our study was to measure and compare the concentrations of atorvastatin, bisoprolol, carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, clofibric acid, diclofenac, fluoxetine, metoprolol, and sertraline in wastewater samples taken from one municipal and one hospital wastewater treatment plant in Slovenia and to predict the potential environmental burden using the risk quotient. In both effluents only clofibric acid and fluoxetine were not detected. The measured concentrations of the remaining seven pharmaceuticals varied between the ng L -1 and the µg L -1 range. Hospital effluent showed higher concentrations, except for diclofenac and carbamazepine. However, high risk quotient was found only for ciprofloxacin and diclofenac in both municipal and hospital effluent. In conclusion, our method can provide a useful tool for systematic monitoring of pharmaceuticals commonly found in wastewater, which will enable a reliable assessment of the risks for the aquatic biota and humans. Knowing the risks will help to plan wastewater treatment and preserve our environment.

The effect of Ultraviolet-B irradiation on the photodegradation of ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin as inhibitors of bacterial DNA replication and cell division in urea medium

“…The photolysis effect of UVB irradiation on the ciprofloxacin is approximately 3 folds of that observed with norfloxacin. In this study, UVB-irradiation is used to remove the contaminants of ciprofloxacin as this compound carried a high risk of contamination of the aquatic environment in both municipal and hospital effluent (4). The results of this study are in agreement with a recent study that showed effective removal of ciprofloxacin with UV irradiation (22).…”

“…Ciprofloxacin among the fluoroquinolone is the most likely to be present in the wastewater effluent. Hospital wastewater effluent showed higher concentration (1 ng/L -1µg/L) of ciprofloxacin and potentially impacts a high risk of contamination in both municipal and hospital effluent (4). In one study, the concentrations of fluoroquinolones including ofloxacin, levofloxacin, norfloxacin, and ciprofloxacin were detected in high concentrations in the hospital wastewater effluent to reach 12.11 μg/L for norfloxacin and 9.60 μg/L for ciprofloxacin (5).…”

Effect of PHRs and PCPs on Microalgal Growth, Metabolism and Microalgae-Based Bioremediation Processes: A Review

“…Municipal wastewaters from domestic and industrial sources can contain a range of different pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Such municipal effluents can be contaminated by the presence of acetaminophen [28]; diclofenac and carbamazepine [29]; ibuprofen, naproxen and triclosan [30]; and hormones [31]. Moreover, wastewater streams were reported to contain not only antibiotics from different classes (β-lactams, sulfonamides, quinolones, tetracyclines, macrolides, etc.…”

Optimization of a dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method followed by UHPLC analysis for fluoxetine quantification in environmental water resources

“…Nowadays, numerous studies have detected pharmaceuticals in environmental waters in several countries and therefore, concern about their effects on aquatics biota and also on human health has been rapidly growing . Because of the inadequacy of waste water treatment plants in neutralize organic compounds, drugs taken by humans – illicit and not – end their route into sewage, surface, and underground waters .…”