Occurrence and human health risk of wastewater–derived pharmaceuticals in a drinking water source for Shanghai, East China

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 490; pp. 987 - 993
• Main Authors: Wen, Zhi-Hao, Chen, Ling, Meng, Xiang-Zhou, Duan, Yan-Ping, Zhang, Zeng-Sheng, Zeng, Eddy Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 15.08.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Air. Soil. Water. Waste. Feeding; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; China; Drinking water; Drinking Water - chemistry; Drinking water and swimming-pool water. Desalination; Environment. Living conditions; Environmental Monitoring; Exact sciences and technology; Huangpu River; Human health risk; Humans; Medical sciences; Pharmaceutical Preparations - analysis; Pharmaceuticals; Pollution; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Risk Assessment; Shanghai; Waste Water - chemistry; Waste Water - statistics & numerical data; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Supply - analysis; Water Supply - statistics & numerical data; Water treatment and pollution; Asia; China; Far east; China, People's Rep., Shanghai, Huangpu R; China, People's Rep., Shanghai; China, People's Rep; Huangpu River; Drinking water; Human health risk; Shanghai; Pharmaceuticals; Urban area; Waste water; Freshwater environment; Health and environment; Seasonal variation; Stream; Public health; Human; Drug; Megacity; Rivers; Non steroidal antiinflammatory agent; Surface water; Water quality; Health hazards; Emerging pollutant; Water pollution; Chemometrics; Principal component analysis; Antilipemic agent
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.05.087

Pharmaceuticals are heavily used to improve human and animal health, resulting in the frequent contamination of aquatic environments with pharmaceutical residues, which has raised considerable concern in recent years. When inadequately removed from drinking water in water treatment plants, pharmaceuticals can have potential toxic effects on human health. This study investigated the spatial distributions and seasonal variations of five pharmaceuticals, including ibuprofen (IBP), ketoprofen (KEP), naproxen (NPX), diclofenac (DFC), and clofibric acid (CA), in the Huangpu River system (a drinking water source for Shanghai) over a period of almost two years as well as the associated risk to human health for different age groups. All of the targets were ubiquitous in the river water, with levels decreasing in the following order: KEP (mean: 28.6ng/L)≈IBP (23.3ng/L)>DFC (13.6ng/L)≈NPX (12.3ng/L)>CA (1.6ng/L). The concentrations of all of the investigated compounds were at the low or medium end of the global range. The upstream tributaries contained lower IBP but higher NPX than did the mainstream and downstream tributaries. However, no significant variations were found in the levels of KEP, DFC, or CA at the different sampling sites. Except for CA in the mainstream, significantly higher pharmaceutical levels were observed in the dry season than in the wet season. Overall, a very low risk of the selected pharmaceuticals for human health via drinking water was observed, but future studies are needed to examine the fate and chronic effects of all pharmaceuticals in aquatic environments. To our knowledge, this is the first report to investigate the human health risk of pharmaceuticals in raw drinking water in China. [Display omitted] •IBP, KEP, NPX, DFC, and CA were ubiquitous in water from the Huangpu River system.•All target levels were at the low to medium of end of the global range.•Significant changes were found for IBP and NPX along the River, but not for others.•Dry season generally contained higher concentrations than wet season.•DFC contributed the most but the overall risk is very low for all age groups.