Management of pharmaceutical micropollutants discharged in urban waters: 30 years of systematic review looking at opportunities for developing countries

• Published in: The Science of the total environment 2022-02, Vol.809, p.151128-151128, Article 151128
• Main Authors: Barcellos, Demian da Silveira, Procopiuck, Mario, Bollmann, Harry Alberto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Developing Countries; Environmental management; Pharmaceutical micropollutants; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Pollution control; Urban waters; Waste Water; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151128

Pharmaceutical micropollutants' contamination of urban waters has been studied globally for decades, but the concentration of innovations in management initiatives is still in developed economies. The gap between the locus of innovations in pharmaceuticals and the relative stagnation in less developed economies to manage waste originating in this activity seems fruitful for investigations on innovation in integrated micropollutant management strategies. These tensions allow for advances in current knowledge for environmental management and, particularly, finding solutions for the contamination by pharmaceutical micropollutants of urban water bodies in developing countries. We aim to list the main strategies for managing pharmaceutical micropollutants discussed to point out opportunities for developing countries to advance in this direction. Methodologically, we conducted a systematic literature review from 1990 to 2020, covering 3027 documents on “pharmaceutical micropollutants management.” The framework formed by the macro-approach to integrated management operationalized by the dimensional micro-approaches: technical, organizational, community, and governmental allowed us to understand that (1) the management of pharmaceutical micropollutants tends to occur through a technical approach centered on the removal of aquatic matrices, green chemistry, and urine diversion; (2) management with an organizational approach has enabled removing drugs from water bodies by drug take-back program, collaborative projects, drug use reduction, and better organizational practices; (3) the community approach have helped minimize this type of pollution by reducing the consumption of medicines and the proper destination for medicines that are no longer in use. Finally, the government management approach emerges as a source of legal, economic, and informational instruments to reduce pollution by pharmaceutical micropollutants. Furthermore, these management approaches allowed us to identify 15 opportunities for possible adjustments for developing societies. These opportunities can be promising for practices and research and, in the medium term, contribute to minimizing pollution by pharmaceutical micropollutants in urban waters. [Display omitted] •The state-of-the-art management of pharmaceutical micropollutants is reviewed.•Sewage is the aquatic matrix with most studies on pharmaceutical micropollutants.•The macro-approach for managing is compounding four dimensional micro-ap