Transport and Attenuation of Pharmaceutical Residues During Artificial Groundwater Replenishment
- 1 January 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by CSIRO Publishing in Environmental Chemistry
- Vol. 1 (1) , 22-25
- https://doi.org/10.1071/en04008
Abstract
Environmental Context.The contamination of public water supplies by drug residues is an issue of importance for public health. While soil may act as a natural filter to remove some contaminants from groundwater, there is a lack of information on the fate and transport of pharmaceutical residues during groundwater recharge. In this study, the fate and the transport of eight drug residues during groundwater recharge of contaminated surface water which was investigated at an artificial groundwater replenishment plant in Berlin, Germany, as part of the international collaboration NASRI (Natural and Artificial Systems for Recharge and Infiltration). The study shows that some of the contaminants would indeed end up in the water supply if the water only underwent normal groundwater recharge. Recently, several new types of organic contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and their metabolites have been found in sewage or surface waters. Some of the polar pharmaceuticals have also been detected in samples of ground and drinking water, especially when water from induced recharge is used for drinking water production. The fate and the transport of eight drug residues during groundwater recharge (GWR) of contaminated surface water was investigated at an artificial groundwater replenishment plant in Berlin, Germany. After a recharge distance of only a few meters, bezafibrate, a blood lipid regulator, and indomethacin, an analgesic, were removed below their detection limits. Clofibric acid, a metabolite of blood lipid lowering agents, and the analgesic drugs diclofenac and propyphenazone were also attenuated during GWR. However, they were still detectable in the receiving water supply wells at low concentration levels (≤ 40 ng L–1). The anti-epileptic drugs carbamazepine and primidone and the drug metabolite AMDOPH (1-acetyl-1-methyl-2-dimethyl-oxamoyl-2-phenylhydrazide) were not significantly affected by GWR occurring in the water supply wells at mean individual concentrations between 100 and 1570 ng L–1.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Multi‐compound methods for the detection of pharmaceutical residues in various waters applying solid phase extraction (SPE) and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric (GC‐MS) detectionJournal of Separation Science, 2003
- Occurrence and Fate of Carbamazepine, Clofibric Acid, Diclofenac, Ibuprofen, Ketoprofen, and Naproxen in Surface WatersEnvironmental Science & Technology, 2003
- Identification and significance of phenazone drugs and their metabolites in ground- and drinking waterChemosphere, 2002
- From municipal sewage to drinking water: fate and removal of pharmaceutical residues in the aquatic environment in urban areasWater Science & Technology, 2002
- Occurrence, fate, and removal of pharmaceutical residues in the aquatic environment: a review of recent research dataToxicology Letters, 2002
- Pharmaceuticals, Hormones, and Other Organic Wastewater Contaminants in U.S. Streams, 1999−2000: A National ReconnaissanceEnvironmental Science & Technology, 2002
- Pharmaceuticals in groundwatersJournal of Chromatography A, 2001
- Occurrence and Fate of the Pharmaceutical Drug Diclofenac in Surface Waters: Rapid Photodegradation in a LakeEnvironmental Science & Technology, 1998
- Occurrence and Distribution of Organic Contaminants in the Aquatic System in Berlin. Part I: Drug Residues and other Polar Contaminants in Berlin Surface and GroundwaterActa Hydrochimica et Hydrobiologica, 1998
- Determination of Clofibric Acid and N-(Phenylsulfonyl)-Sarcosine in Sewage, River and Drinking WaterInternational Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, 1997