Pharmaceutical compounds in tributaries of the Han River watershed, South Korea

Abstract

The Han River watershed is the largest and most important source of drinking water for the residents of the Seoul metropolitan area and the Gyeonggi province in South Korea. The tributaries of the watershed are vulnerable to contamination by effluents from nearby wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and non-point sources. In this study, a one-year monitoring study was performed to investigate the occurrence of 13 pharmaceuticals in 24 tributaries of the Han River watershed in October 2015. From the 13 pharmaceuticals, 12 were found in at least one sample, with the exception of chlortetracycline, which was not detected. The three most frequently detected compounds were clarithromycin (95.8%), carbamazepine (66.7%), and lincomycin (62.5%). Compounds found in high concentrations included clarithromycin (5.2675 μg L−1), ibuprofen (1.9646 μg L−1), and carbamazepine (1.1009 μg L−1). The total concentration of 12 pharmaceuticals in the Seoul metropolitan area (0.7128 μg L−1) was higher than that in the Gyeonggi area (0.3177 μg L−1) possibly due to the large-scale WWTPs located upstream. However, in IHR-3, which is located at the very upstream of the tributary and is not impacted by a WWTP, pharmaceuticals were not detected. This can be explained by the fact that most pharmaceuticals derived from WWTPs are related to human activity. The risk quotients (RQs) for the target pharmaceuticals were calculated on the basis of their presence in tributaries, and all pharmaceuticals presented RQs < 0.01, indicating that potential environmental impacts should be low. These results will be useful to monitor and assess the potential environmental risks of pharmaceuticals in the surface water.