Pharmaceutical Formulation Facilities as Sources of Opioids and Other Pharmaceuticals to Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents

Abstract

Facilities involved in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products are an under-investigated source of pharmaceuticals to the environment. Between 2004 and 2009, 35 to 38 effluent samples were collected from each of three wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in New York and analyzed for seven pharmaceuticals including opioids and muscle relaxants. Two WWTPs (NY2 and NY3) receive substantial flows (>20% of plant flow) from pharmaceutical formulation facilities (PFF) and one (NY1) receives no PFF flow. Samples of effluents from 23 WWTPs across the United States were analyzed once for these pharmaceuticals as part of a national survey. Maximum pharmaceutical effluent concentrations for the national survey and NY1 effluent samples were generally <1 μg/L. Four pharmaceuticals (methadone, oxycodone, butalbital, and metaxalone) in samples of NY3 effluent had median concentrations ranging from 3.4 to >400 μg/L. Maximum concentrations of oxycodone (1700 μg/L) and metaxalone (3800 μg/L) in samples from NY3 effluent exceeded 1000 μg/L. Three pharmaceuticals (butalbital, carisoprodol, and oxycodone) in samples of NY2 effluent had median concentrations ranging from 2 to 11 μg/L. These findings suggest that current manufacturing practices at these PFFs can result in pharmaceuticals concentrations from 10 to 1000 times higher than those typically found in WWTP effluents.

Pharmaceutical Dispensing and Wasting In Health Care Facilities, Amounts, Costs and Evaluation of Potential Ecologic Effects

“…In the present study, all but two of the wasted, discarded or dispensed drugs were excreted in whole or in part as active drug [18] or drug conjugates [3]. Kummerer [76] found that nearly 70% of drugs evaluated were excreted unchanged.…”

“…Recent reviews have described the occurrence and possible effects of drug residues in tissues of aquatic organisms and wildlife [5][6][7]. Pharmaceuticals are introduced into the aquatic environment from a variety of sources, such as: hospitals [2,[8][9][10][11][12]; wastewater treatment plants [13][14][15][16]; drug manufacturers [17][18][19]; livestock farms [20][21][22]; and veterinary facilities [23,24].…”

Illicit drugs in Canadian municipal wastewater and estimates of community drug use

“…1), the proportions may have been skewed by accidental or deliberate disposal of raw cocaine into the municipal sewage system. This hypothesis requires further study, but it interesting to note that even commercial drug manufacturers release large amounts of product into municipal wastewater (Phillips et al, 2010). Higher concentrations of cocaine relative to BE were also noted in wastewater from a WWTP in Ireland (Bones et al, 2007).…”

Drug waste harms fish

“…In 2009, for example, researchers 1,2 reported very high levels of pharmaceutical ingredients in treated effluent coming from a plant that processes wastewater from factories near Hyderabad, India. The following year, a similar discovery was made at two wastewater-treatment plants in New York, both of which received discharges from drug-production plants 3 . Now, researchers have provided the first evidence of similar problems in Europe 4 , and have linked it to sex disruption in wild fish populations found in the Dore River in France.…”