“…Taking in consideration that most WWTPs effluents are discharged into rivers, it is expected that CECs are found in estuarine areas. In fact, several pharmaceutical compounds have been found in Portuguese rivers and estuaries (Madureira et al, 2010;Paíga et al, 2016;Barbosa et al, 2018;Reis-Santos et al, 2018;Sousa et al, 2019) as well as in other parts of the world (Thomas & Hilton, 2004;López-Serna & Petrović, 2012;Yan et al, 2015;Aminot et al, 2016;Cantwell et al, 2018), mainly due to inefficient removal at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Pharmaceutical detected included for instance, carbamazepine, diazepam, fenofibric acid, propranolol, trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole (Madureira et al, 2010) and fluoxetine, ibuprofen, salicylic acid and ketoprofen (Paíga et al, 2016).…”