Abstract
Information on the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the environment of Nigeria is limited, only a single publication previously on pharmaceutical occurrence in the environment of Nigeria, which measured general estrogen levels in Enugu, South-East Nigeria. In order to establish a first overview, surface water samples from six locations as well as ten sewage sludge samples from waste water treatment plants were analysed for a range of different pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, estrogens, and lipid-lowering drugs. The results of this monitoring campaign were evaluated in comparison to published measured environmental concentrations in Africa and worldwide. In surface water samples, 12 of 37 pharmaceutical substances were detected at concentrations ranging from Limits of Detection (LOD) up to 8.84 µg/l. Four of these pharmaceuticals were found at concentrations exceeding ecotoxicological predicted no-effect concentrations (PNEC). In industrial, domestic, and hospital sewage sludge, nine different pharmaceutical substances were detected with the NSAID diclofenac present in all samples at concentrations of up to 1100 µg/kg dry weight, exceeding the highest measured concentration of 560 µg/ kg reported in sludge samples worldwide. This study proves the presence of several pharmaceuticals at relevant concentrations in the environmental matrices studied. Further, more comprehensive monitoring campaigns, especially in locations with high population density and low dilution of treated or untreated waste water in receiving streams are recommended. Key words: Nigeria, pharmaceuticals, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), water, sludge.
Highlights
The global presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment has been validated as a real and ongoing situation of concern by several studies
Sewage sludge was sampled in four domestic wastewater treatment plants, five industrial effluent treatment plants and one hospital wastewater treatment plant from January to April 2012 at different locations in Lagos, Oyo and Ogun State, all in South West Nigeria (Sindiku et al, 2013)
Limits of Preliminary results from analysis of water samples for the presence or absence of a wide variety of pharmaceuticals and their degradates yielded information about the presence of twelve pharmaceutical entities out of Thirty seven checked for, which comprised of six antibiotics, four non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics (NSAIDs), one antilipidemic and, phytoestrogen each (Table 3)
Summary
The global presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment has been validated as a real and ongoing situation of concern by several studies. This has in part led to the current initiative to have pharmaceuticals included in the list of environmentally and ecologically active chemical entities, under the global SUNEP Since human waste streams have been implicated as the most significant sources of environmental pharmaceutical loading (Bound and Voulvoulis, 2005) the degree of human waste impaction on surface water bodies conceivably should determine the concentrations of detectable PhAC residues for individual locations. This study seeks to identify and quantify the levels of pharmaceutical residues in some surface waters and sewage sludge from locations within Lagos municipality, and a nearby state, and to compare detected concentrations with existing information from other studies for perspective
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