Occurrence and preliminarily environmental risk assessment of selected pharmaceuticals in the urban rivers, China

Abstract

Twelve selected pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, analgesics, antiepileptics and lipid regulators were analysed and detected in water samples collected from 18 sampling sections along the three main urban rivers in Yangpu District of Shanghai, China during four sampling campaigns. Besides, algal growth inhibition test was conducted to preliminarily assess the eco-toxicology induced by the target pharmaceuticals in the rivers. Mean levels for most of target compounds were generally below 100 ng/L at sampling sections, with the exception of caffeine and paracetamol presenting considerably high concentration. The detected pharmaceuticals in the urban rivers ranged from <LOQ for propranolol to 8571 ng/L for caffeine. Qiujiang River could be regarded as the most polluted according to total detected pharmaceutical concentrations. The target pharmaceuticals varied and fluctuated irregularly from the upstreams to the downstreams of the three rivers, indicating the wastewater inputs from non-point sources and their individual different characteristics of transference and transportation. Preliminary eco-toxicological risk assessment showed that the presence of azithromycin, clarithromycin and caffeine may present an ecotoxicological risk in the urban rivers. For other tested pharmaceuticals the inhibition effects of single substances in the urban aquatic environment, based on the algae inhibition tests, were very imperceptible.

Environmental Dissemination of Selected Antibiotics from Hospital Wastewater to the Aquatic Environment

“…While the occurrence of antibiotics in RW systems has been reported extensively ( Table 1 ), studies assessing their dissemination from HW are scarce. As highlighted in the current study, antibiotic concentrations found in RW were comparable to those found in China by Zhou et al [ 19 ]. When relating the antibiotic concentrations in RW and EW, studies [ 49 , 50 , 51 ] have reported that sublethal concentration of therapeutic antibiotics may select for antibiotic resistance in commensals and pathogenic microorganisms in the environment.…”

Occurrence and risk assessment of selected pharmaceuticals in water and sediments of Usuma Dam, Abuja, Nigeria

“…Higher risk (RQ > 1) has been reported for Ibuprofen (6.43) in Kalpani river, Pakistan [86]. Zhou et al [87] reported lower risks levels (RQ < 1) for Ibuprofen, Diclofenac and Paracetamol in urban rivers in Shanghai, China. In contrast, a higher risk quotient was observed for Ibuprofen in the sediment of the Usuma Dam implying they constitute serious health threat to benthic and aquatic organisms in the dam (Table 5) .…”

Nutrient Removal from Wastewater Using Microalgae: A Kinetic Evaluation and Lipid Analysis

“…All these compounds have significant effects on algal population density. Half maximal effective concentration (EC 50 ) values for these compounds vary between 0.026 and 100 mg/L (Petersen et al, 2014;Zhou et al, 2016). Pharmaceutical wastewater also contains heavy metals.…”