To provide the first nationwide reconnaissance of the occurrence of pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants (OWCs) in water resources, the U.S. Geological Survey used five newly developed analytical methods to measure concentrations of 95 OWCs in water samples from a network of 139 streams across 30 states during 1999 and 2000. The selection of sampling sites was biased toward streams susceptible to contamination (i.e. downstream of intense urbanization and livestock production). OWCs were prevalent during this study, being found in 80% of the streams sampled. The compounds detected represent a wide range of residential, industrial, and agricultural origins and uses with 82 of the 95 OWCs being found during this study. The most frequently detected compounds were coprostanol (fecal steroid), cholesterol (plant and animal steroid), N,N-diethyltoluamide (insect repellant), caffeine (stimulant), triclosan (antimicrobial disinfectant), tri(2-chloroethyl)phosphate (fire retardant), and 4-nonylphenol (nonionic detergent metabolite). Measured concentrations for this study were generally low and rarely exceeded drinking-water guidelines, drinking-water health advisories, or aquatic-life criteria. Many compounds, however, do not have such guidelines established. The detection of multiple OWCs was common for this study, with a median of seven and as many as 38 OWCs being found in a given water sample. Little is known about the potential interactive effects (such as synergistic or antagonistic toxicity) that may occur from complex mixtures of OWCs in the environment. In addition, results of this study demonstrate the importance of obtaining data on metabolites to fully understand not only the fate and transport of OWCs in the hydrologic system but also their ultimate overall effect on human health and the environment.

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Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, 1999-2000: a national reconnaissance.

During the last three decades, the impact of chemical pollution has focused almost exclusively on the conventional "priority" pollutants, especially those acutely toxic/carcinogenic pesticides and industrial intermediates displaying persistence in the environment. This spectrum of chemicals, however, is only one piece of the larger puzzle in "holistic" risk assessment. Another diverse group of bioactive chemicals receiving comparatively little attention as potential environmental pollutants includes the pharmaceuticals and active ingredients in personal care products (in this review collectively termed PPCPs), both human and veterinary, including not just prescription drugs and biologics, but also diagnostic agents, "nutraceuticals," fragrances, sun-screen agents, and numerous others. These compounds and their bioactive metabolites can be continually introduced to the aquatic environment as complex mixtures via a number of routes but primarily by both untreated and treated sewage. Aquatic pollution is particularly troublesome because aquatic organisms are captive to continual life-cycle, multigenerational exposure. The possibility for continual but undetectable or unnoticed effects on aquatic organisms is particularly worrisome because effects could accumulate so slowly that major change goes undetected until the cumulative level of these effects finally cascades to irreversible change--change that would otherwise be attributed to natural adaptation or ecologic succession. As opposed to the conventional, persistent priority pollutants, PPCPs need not be persistent if they are continually introduced to surface waters, even at low parts-per-trillion/parts-per-billion concentrations (ng-microg/L). Even though some PPCPs are extremely persistent and introduced to the environment in very high quantities and perhaps have already gained ubiquity worldwide, others could act as if they were persistent, simply because their continual infusion into the aquatic environment serves to sustain perpetual life-cycle exposures for aquatic organisms. This review attempts to synthesize the literature on environmental origin, distribution/occurrence, and effects and to catalyze a more focused discussion in the environmental science community.

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment: agents of subtle change?

Antibiotics in the aquatic environment - A review - Part II

https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/33344/4/A%20review%20on%20the%20occurrence%20of%20micropollutants%20in%20the%20aquatic%20environment%20and%20their%20fate%20and%20removal%20during%20wastewater%20treatment.pdf

A review on the occurrence of micropollutants in the aquatic environment and their fate and removal during wastewater treatment

Occurrence, fate, and removal of pharmaceutical residues in the aquatic environment: a review of recent research data

Occurrence of antibiotics in the aquatic environment.

Samples of influent (untreated) and effluent (treated) from 18 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in 14 municipalities in Canada were analyzed for residues of selected prescription and nonprescription drugs. Several neutral and acidic drugs were detected in effluents, including analgesic/anti-inflammatory agents, lipid regulators, and an antiepileptic drug, carbamazepine. Residues were extracted from effluents by solid-phase extraction, followed by either methylation and analysis of acidic drugs by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry or direct analysis of neutral drugs by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Analgesic/anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen, as well as the metabolite of acetylsalicyclic acid, salicylic acid, were often detected in final effluents at microg/L concentrations. The acidic lipid regulator, clofibric acid, and the analgesic/anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac were not detected in any final effluent samples, which is not consistent with data from Europe. The precursor to clofibric acid, clofibrate, is not widely prescribed as a lipid regulator in Canada. However, the lipid regulators bezafibrate and gemfibrozil were detected in some samples of influent and effluent. The chemotherapy drugs ifosfamide and cyclophosphamide and the anti-inflammatory phenazone were not detected in influent or effluent samples, but the vasodilator drug pentoxyfylline was detected at ng/L concentrations in some final effluents. The widespread occurrence of carbamazepine at concentrations as high as 2.3 microg/L may be explained by use of this drug for other therapeutic purposes besides treatment of epilepsy and its resistance to elimination in STPs. The rates of elimination of ibuprofen and naproxen appeared to be elevated in STPs with hydraulic retention times for sewage greater than 12 h.

Occurrence of neutral and acidic drugs in the effluents of Canadian sewage treatment plants.

The occurrence of iodinated X-ray contrast media derived from radiological examinations was investigated in German municipal sewage, sewage treatment plant (STP) effluents, rivers, and groundwater using LC-electrospray tandem MS detection. The four X-ray contrast media, diatrizoate, iopamidol, iopromide, and iomeprol are ubiquitously distributed in the sewage and in the aquatic environment. The X-ray contrast media were not significantly eliminated during the sewage treatment processes close to Frankfurt/Main. On weekdays the loading of the X-ray contrast media was significantly increased, because X-ray examinations are performed in hospitals and radiological practices predominately from Monday to Friday. The maximum concentration measured in STP effluents was 15 μg/L for iopamidol. Due to the high contamination of STP effluents with X-ray contrast media, the respective receiving waters (rivers and creeks) were also highly polluted. Median values up to 0.49 μg/L for iopamidol and 0.23 μg/L for diatrizoate...

Roman Hirsch

Papers

Occurrence of antibiotics in the aquatic environment.

Occurrence of neutral and acidic drugs in the effluents of Canadian sewage treatment plants.

Occurrence and behavior of X-ray contrast media in sewage facilities and the aquatic environment

Determination of antibiotics in different water compartments via liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry.