Occurrence and risk assessment of psychoactive substances in tap water from China

Abstract

Psychoactive substances are becoming a new concern in aquatic environment along with the increase in use of these substances. In this study, 23 psychoactive substances were investigated in the tap water collected in 63 sites in China. Eighteen out of 23 psychoactive substances were detected at the range of < method detection limits (MDLs) to 24.9 ng L-1. It was found that diazepam and temazepam were the major psychoactive substances in the tap water with the median concentration of 1.0 and 0.06 ng L−1, respectively. The high exposure dose for each psychoactive substance was calculated from 0.6 to 855 pg kg−1 bw d−1 and showed an order of men ≥ boys ≥ girls ≥ women. Risk assessment revealed there was little risk of psychoactive substances on human health at current residual levels.