The dynamics of the pharmaceutical and personal care product interactive capacity under the effect of artificial enrichment of soil with heavy metals and of wastewater reuse

Abstract

A greenhouse experiment was conducted, using a randomized block design, including twelve heavy metal (Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, Co, Cr, Ni, Pb) mixture treatments, with each metal participating in the treatment with 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 mg/kg, respectively. Common beet (Beta vulgaris L.) was chosen as test plant. The plants were irrigated with treated municipal wastewater taken from the Wastewater Treatment Plant of the town of Amaliada, N.W., Peloponnese, Greece. The experiment aimed at studying the interactions between heavy metals and macro-microelements, and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). The basic scope was to shed some light on the potential environmental implications, of these interactions on the soil PPCPs for a more effective monitoring of these emerging contaminants in the plants and soil continuum. It was found that the PPCPs have a very high potential interactive capacity, having interacted with all the studied metals, and metalloids, as well as with plant macro elements (P, and K). The uptake of PPCPs by plants was statistically significantly related with their respective content in the soil. The general inference is that the interactive relations between heavy metals, macro-, microelements, and emerging contaminants, being mainly antagonistic, which contribute to the decrease the uptake of soil PPCPs.