Journal Article

Presence of active pharmaceutical ingredients in the continuum of surface and ground water used in drinking water production

Korpiharju, Taina, Assmuth, Timo, Karlsson, Sanja, Nysten, Taina, Äystö, Lauri, Saraperä, Sami, Fjäder, Päivi, Tuominen, Sirkku, Rosendahl, Kirsi, Artimo, Aki, Perkola, Noora, Huttula, Timo, Ahkola, Heidi

2017

Overview

Anthropogenic chemicals in surface water and groundwater cause concern especially when the water is used in drinking water production. Due to their continuous release or spill-over at waste water treatment plants, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are constantly present in aquatic environment and despite their low concentrations, APIs can still cause effects on the organisms. In the present study, Chemcatcher passive sampling was applied in surface water, surface water intake site, and groundwater observation wells to estimate whether the selected APIs are able to end up in drinking water supply through an artificial groundwater recharge system. The API concentrations measured in conventional wastewater, surface water, and groundwater grab samples were assessed with the results obtained with passive samplers. Out of the 25 APIs studied with passive sampling, four were observed in groundwater and 21 in surface water. This suggests that many anthropogenic APIs released to waste water proceed downstream and can be detectable in groundwater recharge. Chemcatcher passive samplers have previously been used in monitoring several harmful chemicals in surface and wastewaters, but the path of chemicals to groundwater has not been studied. This study provides novel information on the suitability of the Chemcatcher passive samplers for detecting APIs in groundwater wells.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Anthropogenic factors / Aquatic environment / Aquatic plants / Aquatic Pollution / Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution / Chemicals / Drinking water / Earth and Environmental Science / Ecotoxicology / Environment / Environmental Chemistry / Environmental Health / Environmental science / Groundwater / Groundwater recharge / Ingredients / Low concentrations / monitoring / Observation wells / Pharmaceuticals / Research Article / Samplers / Sampling / Surface water / Surface-groundwater relations / Waste Water Technology / Wastewater / Wastewater treatment / Wastewater treatment plants / Water intake / Water intakes / Water Management / Water Pollution Control / Water supply / Water treatment / Water treatment plants / Water wells / wells