Linking drugs of abuse in wastewater to contamination of surface and drinking water

Abstract

11The concentrations of 17 drugs of abuse (DOAs), including cocaine, several amphetamine, 12 opioid drugs and two metabolites, benzoylecgonine (BE) a metabolite of cocaine and 2-13 Ethylidene-1,5-Dimethyl-3,3-Diphenylpyrolidine (EDDP) a metabolite of methadone, were 14 investigated in an urban watershed that is heavily impacted by discharges of municipal 15 acetylcodeine (a-codeine) and oxycodone. Heroin and methadone were not detected at any 25 sample locations. Amphetamine (AMP), methamphetamine (METH), 3,4-methylenedioxy-26 methamphetamine (MDMA), and EDDP were not detected in the samples collected at the 27 drinking water intake. Many of the DOAs were not removed effectively in the DWTP, including 28 cocaine, BE, methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), ephedrine, and several prescription opioids, 29 most probably because the DWTP was operating at or above its rated treatment capacity. These 30 data indicate that there can be transport of DOAs from wastewater sources into drinking water in 31 urban watersheds. 32 33

Variations in Illicit Compound Discharged from Treated Wastewater

“…Our study found methamphetamine in concentrations varying from 3.09 µg/L to 25.25 µg/L. These levels are higher than previous studies that have found maximum concentrations of 0.002 µg/L [17] and 0.0008 µg/L [8] with some studies reporting no detection of methamphetamine or amphetamine [19]. This is not surprising as reported use in European countries is 200 mg/day/1000 people [27] whilst in the New South Wales area (approximate to this study) values have been reported as 595-995 mg/day/1000 people [13].…”

“…Higher levels of ephedrine/psuedoephedrine can be considered potential illicit drug precursor materials but are more likely due to the widespread use of decongestants with August concentrations generally higher than April concentrations across all sampling sites at these reported concentrations. Amphetamine was detected with a mean of 0.15 µg/L across all samples, which is comparable to 0.03 µg/L detected in Spain [34] and 0.12 µg/L in Canada [19]. Whereas some studies report no detection of MDMA in surface water, this study reports a mean of 0.81 µg/L across all sampling sites, suggesting widespread use of this compound.…”

“…This study reports mean concentrations of 0.86 µg/L for cocaine and 8.03 µg/L for benzolycogonine. Related studies have reported cocaine and benzoylecgonine in surface waters at concentrations of 0.01 and 0.1 µg/L in Spain [28], 0.11 and 0.5 µg/L in Belgium [29] with 0.007 and 0.02 µg/L in Canadian surface waters [19]. A comprehensive review by Pal et al [10] found no reported concentrations of cocaine in surface waters greater than the ng/L range with one study in Spain reporting 0.044 µg/L [30] and a maximum concentration of benzoylecgonine at in Sar at 0.316 µg/L [31].…”

“…Worldwide, the reported removal rates through the modern treatment of wastewater vary from 13 percent for MDMA and 70 percent for ephedrine [8], to 93 percent for benzoylecgonine [14], and up to 100 percent for amphetamine [15] and mehylamphetamine [16]. Despite reports that WTPs remove the majority of illicit compounds, the discharge of treated wastewater effluent into waterways has resulted in the detection of these compounds in surface waters in Europe [2,7,8] and in North America [17][18][19].…”

Fate and mass balance of contaminants of emerging concern during wastewater treatment determined using the fractionated approach

“…Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), including pharmaceuticals and personal care products 42 (PPCPs), drugs of abuse (DOAs), hormones and stimulants are present in the aquatic environment 43 (Blair et al, 2013a;Hughes et al, 2013;Rodayan et al, 2015), and these CECs were found to have 44 adverse effects on aquatic organisms (Gay et al, 2015;Kidd et al, 2007;Kümmerer, 2008;Purdom 45 et al, 1994). Discharges of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as the 46 primary source for CECs introduced into surface waters (Luo et al, 2014).…”