Assessment of Human Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water Catchments, Tap and Drinking Fountain Waters

André Pereira,Célia Laranjeiro,Angelina Pena,Liliana Silva

doi:10.3390/app11157062

André Pereira, Célia Laranjeiro + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app11157062

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Abstract

The occurrence of pharmaceuticals in water catchments and drinking waters raises potential risks to public health. Therefore, after addressing the major aquatic contamination pathway, the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and, subsequently, surface waters, 18 human pharmaceuticals from 6 therapeutic groups (antibiotics, lipid regulators, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and hormones) were analyzed in drinking water catchments, tap and drinking fountain waters. This was performed by solid phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass detection (LC-MS/MS). The 97 samples analyzed were collected from 31 different sites in the center of Portugal. All samples presented concentrations below the method detection limits (MDLs) that ranged between 1.13 to 5.45 ng L−1. The achieved results contributed to a better knowledge on the Portuguese and European context of drinking water, since there is a knowledge gap regarding this matrix. Comparing our data with other studies, published worldwide, we can observe that median concentrations of pharmaceuticals were reported in the low ng L−1 levels, values close to our MDLs. Consequently, it is unlikely that, in light of the current knowledge, the presence of pharmaceuticals in drinking water presents a threat to human health.

Highlights

The increasing use of pharmaceuticals worldwide, classified as a group of emerging contaminants, presenting different characteristics and, producing different environmental exposure profiles, represents an environmental issue which has been raising increasing concerns in recent years [1,2]
Its occurrence in the water compartment has been continuously documented throughout the world, mainly through the use of solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass detection (LC-MS/MS), with human excretion being the main source of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment [3]
It is important to evaluate drinking waters and its catchments in order to evaluate the removal of pharmaceuticals in water treatment plants (WTPs) [9]

Summary

Introduction

The increasing use of pharmaceuticals worldwide, classified as a group of emerging contaminants, presenting different characteristics and, producing different environmental exposure profiles, represents an environmental issue which has been raising increasing concerns in recent years [1,2]. The widespread presence of pharmaceuticals in environmental samples is more likely to occur from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) that incompletely remove these compounds [5], an issue that was first studied in 1976 [6]. Pharmaceuticals are released into the environment, through the effluents and sludges, as parent compounds, metabolites and as transformation products, formed during water treatments promoting contamination of surface water, groundwater and even drinking water [7]. It is important to evaluate drinking waters and its catchments in order to evaluate the removal of pharmaceuticals in water treatment plants (WTPs) [9]

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