Occurrence of pharmaceuticals and risk assessment in urban groundwater
Due to the fast urbanization and climate change, urban aquifers are considered as a strategic source of potable water. However, a potential limitation is the presence of contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals, which might deteriorate groundwater quality. This work investigated the occurrence of pharm...
| Autores: | , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2022 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/284327 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/284327 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85141950753 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Pharmaceuticals Risk assessment Urban groundwater |
| Sumario: | Due to the fast urbanization and climate change, urban aquifers are considered as a strategic source of potable water. However, a potential limitation is the presence of contaminants, such as pharmaceuticals, which might deteriorate groundwater quality. This work investigated the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and evaluated their human health risk in an alluvial urban aquifer recharged by a polluted river that receives discharges from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). To this end, river and groundwater samples were collected from February to May 2021 for the analysis of 92 pharmaceuticals using a solid-phase extraction and a highpressure liquid chromatography coupled to a high resolution mass spectrometric methodology (HPLC-HRMS). Results showed that 35 pharmaceuticals, including 6 transformation products (TPs), were detected in all groundwater samples and the range of concentrations was from the low ng L-1 to 44.5 μg L-1. Moreover, the concentrations of some substances decreased along the flow path during bank filtration, suggesting the occurrence of natural attenuation processes (e.g., adsorption or oxidation-reduction). Finally, most of the measured substances did not pose a risk to human health since estimated risk quotients were low. |
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