Applied Water Science. Группа авторов
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу Applied Water Science - Группа авторов страница 27

Название: Applied Water Science

Автор: Группа авторов

Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited

Жанр: Физика

Серия:

isbn: 9781119725268

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ 2018; Ragowska et al., 2019). Municipal wastewater treatment systems, which receive wastewater and effluent streams from various sources, act as reservoirs of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites (Nikolaou et al., 2017). This is because wastewater treatment plants based on conventional treatment processes only achieve limited or partial removal of pharmaceuticals (Nikolaou et al., 2007). For example, Kay et al. (2017) observed that raw sewage from sewer overflow is a significant source of pharmaceuticals in surface aquatic systems. Other potential hotspot sources which are currently under-studied include waste/wastewaters from (1) solid waste repositories such as non-sanitary landfills or waste dumps, (2) on-site sanitation systems such as septic tanks and pit latrines, (3) mortuaries and funeral parlors, and (4) gravesites and cemeteries (Gwenzi and Chaukura, 2018). Due to poor solid waste and wastewater management practices in developing countries, these under-studied sources could be significant sources of pharmaceuticals released into aquatic systems.

      2.2.2 Dissemination and Occurrence in Aquatic Systems

      Research on pharmaceuticals as environmental contaminants dates back to about 1976 to 1985 (Daughton, 2016). Today, the field has developed into a multidisciplinary area attracting a lot of research interest. To date, several pharmaceuticals have been detected in the environment, including estrogens such as estrone and ethinylestradiol, as well as the metabolites of the lipid-lowering drug clofibric acid (Aus der Beek et al., 2016). Most of the pharmaceuticals are found as unchanged form in wastewater as well as in rivers (Kay et al., 2017). However, there are drugs such as aspirin which have been found in the metabolite form of salicylic acid (Murdoch, 2015). Fluoxetine and propranolol were also observed to occur both in their original and metabolite forms (Lόpez-Serna et al., 2013). Fluoxetine metabolite is nor-fluoxetine while propranolol one is 4OHpropranolol. Carbamazepine also has Carbamazepine-glucuronide as one of its metabolite (Zhou et al., 2011).

      Pharmaceuticals have also been detected in groundwater but in relatively lower concentrations than in surface aquatic systems (Maskaoni and Zhou, 2010). The low concentration has been assumed to be due to transport and transformation processes which cause major modification and removal of pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals have also been detected in marine systems. For example, 36 pharmaceuticals were detected in the Mediterranean Sea in concentrations quite similar to those found in the Ter River (Spain) which flows into the Mediterranean with maximum concentrations of 29 ng/L (Gros et al., 2012). The same authors also detected 15 pharmaceuticals in tap water, but concentrations were relatively low, with highest concentration being 13 ng/L. Illicit or recreational drugs including amphetamines and other psychostimulant drugs have also been detected in aquatic systems in several countries (Apul et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020).

      Pharmaceuticals have also been detected in aquatic systems in Africa, and number of reviews on the subject also exist (Gwenzi et al., 2018; K’oreje et al., 2019; Offiong et al., 2019). A recent review by Madikizela et al. (2020) showed that pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs, antiretroviral drugs, steroid hormones were reported in aquatic systems in six countries out of a total of 54 African countries for the period 2017 to 2019. No data were available for the remainder 48 countries, largely due to lack of analytical equipment, expertise, and funding to support research on the subject. Moreover, it is also possible that the work of Madikizela et al. (2020) may have excluded literature from non-English speaking countries in West and North Africa. Antibiotics, antipyretics, beta-blocker, lipid regulator and psycho-stimulants were detected in surface water and dams along the Umgeni River system in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa (Agunbiade and Moodley, 2014). In Kenya the pharmaceutical groups observed were antibiotics, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiepileptic, antimalarial, and antiretroviral drugs (K’oreje et al., 2012).

      K’oreje et al. (2020) showed that ciprofloxacin, sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprim, while analgesics/anti-inflammatories were aspirin, ibuprofen, and paracetamol were common in African aquatic systems. In the same study, the common anti-retrovirals were lamivudine, nevirapine and zidovudine. Interestingly, specific classes of pharmaceutically active compounds, e.g., anti-retrovirals and anti-malarials, which are rarely reported in developed countries were widely detected in African aquatic systems at high concentrations (>100 μg/L) (K’oreje et al., 2020). In the influent and effluent samples collected in Kenya, the most frequently detected antiretrovirals were efavirenz, lamivudine, and nevirapine (K’oreje et al., 2018). In some cases, the concentrations of pharmaceuticals in surface waters were of the same order of magnitude (maximum ~170 μg/L) as in wastewater.