Neuropsychiatric pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs in wastewater treatment plants: a review

Abstract

Environmental context. Neuropsychiatric pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs in wastewaters are of increasing environmental concern. We compile the recent literature and evaluate the concentrations and profiles of various drugs and their removal efficiencies in wastewater treatment plants. The sewage epidemiology approach, used in the estimation of drug usage in communities, is discussed, and we make recommendations for future research in this area.Abstract. Neuropsychiatric pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs encompass a broad range of compounds including opioids, amphetamine-type stimulants, cannabinoids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, antipsychotics, anaesthetics, anti-epileptics and mood stabilisers, lysergic compounds, sympathomimetic amines and cocaine derivatives. In this article, we review studies on the occurrence and fate of these drugs in wastewater treatment plants. In general, among various drugs studied, the concentrations and detection frequencies of opioids and cocaine derivatives were the highest in wastewaters. The forensic analysis of wastewaters suggests that cocaine and opioids usage has increased. Given the fact that data on drug usage can be used for making regulatory decisions and policies, this review focuses on understanding the sources and environmental dynamics of neuropsychiatric and illicit drugs. There is a pressing need for more research on the magnitude and extent of illicit drug consumption. The 'sewage epidemiology' approach, currently applied in the estimation of illicit drug consumption in communities, is reviewed. The field of wastewater research has been advancing in multipronged paths, incorporating concepts in analytical chemistry, organic chemistry, environmental chemistry, biochemistry, sewage engineering, drug epidemiology and statistics. Future prospects with regard to the occurrence and environmental fate of illicit and psychoactive drugs are recommended.

Investigating the appearance of new psychoactive substances in South Australia using wastewater and forensic data

“…Mechanisms to report hospital admissions and forensic toxicology findings may not be publicly available. Wastewater analysis (WWA) has thus been proposed as a suitable complementary means to provide temporal and spatial trends in NPS use, because it can give information on the identity and amount of drugs being used at any given time …”

“…Wastewater analysis (WWA) has thus been proposed as a suitable complementary means to provide temporal and spatial trends in NPS use, because it can give information on the identity and amount of drugs being used at any given time. 7,8 The ever-changing nature of the NPS market means acquiring standards and developing quantitative analytical methods for compounds which may have a short commercial lifetime is unfeasible.…”

Mass loading and removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products including psychoactives, antihypertensives, and antibiotics in two sewage treatment plants in southern India

“…Over the past decade, research determining sources and overall fates of PPCPs through STPs, and their distribution in multiple environmental matrices including biota (Subedi et al, 2012), wastewater (Metcalfe et al, 2010;Radjenovic et al, 2009), surface water (Kolpin et al, 2002), drinking water (Benotti et al, 2009), and sludge (Subedi et al, 2013) were studied in developed countries. However, the frequency and concentration of PPCPs can vary depending on the consumption pattern of drugs and the effectiveness of wastewater treatment strategies (Kolpin et al, 2002).…”

“…PPCPs are capable of exerting toxic effects at relatively low concentrations through specific modes of action, and can affect non-target organisms at different trophic levels (Rehman et al, 2015). Antipsychotics, antidepressants, and antibacterials are the three most toxic classes of pharmaceuticals in the environment (Fent et al, 2006;Asimakopoulos and Kannan, 2016). For instance, at environmentally relevant concentrations, carbamazepine altered the ultrastructural cellular reactions in liver, kidney and gills of Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout) and Cyprinus carpio (common carp) (Triebskorn et al, 2007); diazepam inhibited polyp regeneration of Hydra vulgaris (Pascoe et al, 2003), and metoprolol and verapamil significantly changed the heartbeat of Daphnia magna (Villegas-Navarro et al, 2003).…”

Mass spectrometric strategies for the investigation of biomarkers of illicit drug use in wastewater

“…However, important WBE research has also been conducted in other continents such as Asia (Lai et al, ; Khan et al, ; Li et al, ; Kim et al, ), Australia (Irvine et al, ; Prichard et al, ; Lai et al, ; Tscharke et al, , ), North America (Banta‐Green et al, ; Burgard et al, ; Subedi & Kannan, ), and Central and South America (Maldaner et al, ; Devault et al, ; Voloshenko‐Rossin et al, ; Bijlsma et al, ). Furthermore, a recently published review on neuropsychiatric pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs in WWTPs (Asimakopoulos & Kannan, ) is recommended for readers interested.…”