Monitoring the presence of 13 active compounds in surface water collected from rural areas in northwestern Spain.

Alejandra Iglesias,Carolina Nebot,Claudia Coronel-Olivares,Carlos Abuín,Beatriz Vázquez,Alberto Cepeda

doi:10.3390/ijerph110505251

Abstract

Drug residues are considered environmental contaminants, and their occurrence has recently become a matter of concern. Analytical methods and monitoring systems are therefore required to control the continuous input of these drug residues into the environment. This article presents a suitable HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method for the simultaneous extraction, detection and quantification of residues of 13 drugs (antimicrobials, glucocorticosteroids, anti-inflammatories, anti-hypertensives, anti-cancer drugs and triphenylmethane dyes) in surface water. A monitoring study with 549 water samples was carried out in northwestern Spain to detect the presence of drug residues over two sampling periods during 2010, 2011 and 2012. Samples were collected from rural areas with and without farming activity and from urban areas. The 13 analytes were detected, and 18% of the samples collected showed positive results for the presence of at least one analyte. More collection sites were located in rural areas than in urban areas. However, more positive samples with higher concentrations and a larger number of analytes were detected in samples collected from sites located after the discharge of a WWTP. Results indicated that the WWTPs seems to act as a concentration point. Positive samples were also detected at a site located near a drinking water treatment plant.

Highlights

Around the world, drugs consumption in both human and veterinary medicine has been increasing year after year
The mobile phase employed was different: methanol and water acidified with formic acid instead of ammonium acetate was employed because the best peak resolution and peak shape were achieved with a combination of these solvents
This study has demonstrated that even if Galicia is an area of Spain with high rainfall and low population density compared with other areas of Spain, the presence of active compounds such as pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment is common, and these results were similar to results published for other areas of Spain such as Catalonia, the Spanish Mediterranean area, Valencia, Madrid and Sevilla [27,29,30,32,33,67]

Summary

Introduction

Drugs consumption in both human and veterinary medicine has been increasing year after year. 3,000 different active substances such as analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs, contraceptives, antibiotics, beta-blockers, lipid regulators and neuroactive compounds being commonly used in human medicine [1]. These compounds enter the environment through many routes, including manufacturing, formulation, distribution, use and disposal. Pharmaceuticals widely used in the treatment of animals such as the antimicrobials, sulfonamides and quinolones can be employed in the treatment of human infections These drugs could be released directly to the environment through the extensive livestock-raising operations and can accumulate in manure pits or livestock waste that may be used to fertilise agricultural lands [2].

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