Occurrence, removal and environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in rural wastewater treatment wetlands

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2016-10, Vol.566-567, p.1660-1669
• Main Authors: Chen, Yi, Vymazal, Jan, Březinová, Tereza, Koželuh, Milan, Kule, Lumír, Huang, Jingang, Chen, Zhongbing
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Czech Republic; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental risk; Pharmaceutical Preparations - analysis; Pharmaceuticals and personal care products; Risk Assessment; Rural Population; Small community; Treatment wetlands; Waste Disposal, Fluid; Waste Water - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.06.069

Rural communities in central and eastern Europe usually use constructed wetlands (CWs) to treat domestic wastewater. Effluents from these systems are regularly discharged to receiving water, resulting in a potential transfer of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from sewage to the aquatic environment. In this study, the seasonal occurrence, removal and risk assessment of 32 multi-class PPCPs were investigated in three CWs from the village of south Bohemia, Czech Republic. Among the PPCPs considered, 25 compounds were detected in sewage influent, and ibuprofen, caffeine and paracetamol were the most commonly detected PPCPs. The removal efficiencies of PPCPs in the rural CWs exhibited large variability with 11–100% for anti-inflammatories, 37–99% for β-blockers and 18–95% for diuretics. The statistical results revealed significant correlations between removal efficiencies of six PPCPs and conventional water quality parameters. The ecotoxicological assessment study revealed that most of the PPCPs (except ibuprofen) in the effluent yielded low aquatic risk. This study suggested that constructed wetlands could be effective for removing PPCPs and reducing environmental risk of PPCPs discharged from rural communities into surface water systems. [Display omitted] •Occurrence and removal of 32 pharmaceuticals from rural domestic wastewater were evaluated.•Hydrochlorothiazide and gabapentin removal were reported for the first time.•Pharmaceuticals were efficiently removed without significant seasonal variability.•Correlations between pharmaceuticals and water quality parameters were observed.•Ibuprofen in the effluent yielded high potential environmental risk.