Suitability of passive sampling for the monitoring of pharmaceuticals in Finnish surface waters.

Abstract

The occurrence of five pharmaceuticals, consisting of four anti-inflammatory and one antiepileptic drug, was studied by passive sampling and grab sampling in northern Lake Päijänne and River Vantaa. The passive sampling was performed by using Chemcatcher® sampler with a SDB-RPS Empore disk as a receiving phase. In Lake Päijänne, the sampling was conducted during summer 2013 at four locations near the discharge point of a wastewater treatment plant and in the years 2013 and 2015 at four locations along River Vantaa. The samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. The concentrations of carbamazepine, diclofenac, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, and naproxen in Lake Päijänne determined by passive sampling ranged between 1.4-2.9ngL(-1), 15-35ngL(-1), 13-31ngL(-1), 16-27ngL(-1), and 3.3-32ngL(-1), respectively. Similarly, the results in River Vantaa ranged between 1.2-40ngL(-1), 15-65ngL(-1), 13-33ngL(-1), 16-31ngL(-1), and 3.3-6.4ngL(-1). The results suggest that the Chemcatcher passive samplers are suitable for detecting pharmaceuticals in lake and river waters.