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Occurrence, removal and environmental risk of markers of five drugs of abuse in urban wastewater systems in South Australia

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Abstract

The occurrence and fate of five drugs of abuse in raw influent and treated effluent wastewater were investigated over a period of 1 year in the Adelaide region of South Australia. Four wastewater treatment plants were chosen for this study and monitored for five drugs which included cocaine in the form of its metabolite benzoylecgonine (BE), methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and two opioids (codeine and morphine) during the period April 2016 to February 2017. Alongside concentrations in raw sewage, the levels of drugs in the treated effluent were assessed and removal efficiencies were calculated. Drug concentrations were measured by mixed-mode solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Drug concentrations detected in the raw wastewater ranged from 7 to 6510 ng/L and < LOD to 4264 ng/L in treated effluent samples. Drug removal rates varied seasonally and spatially. The mass loads of drugs discharged into the environment were in descending order: codeine > methamphetamine > morphine > MDMA > BE. Results showed that all the targeted drugs were on average incompletely removed by wastewater treatment, with removal performance highest for morphine (94%) and lowest for MDMA (58%). A screening-level environmental risk assessment was subsequently performed for the drugs based on effluent wastewater concentrations. Based on calculated risk quotients, overall environmental risk for these compounds appears low, with codeine and methamphetamine likely to pose the greatest potential risk to receiving environments. Given the recognised limitations of current ecotoxicological models and risk assessment methods for these and other pharmaceutical drugs, the potential for environmental impacts associated with the continuous discharge of these compounds in wastewater effluents should not be overlooked.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. The authors gratefully acknowledge South Australian Health Network for their financial support. The authors thank SA Water Corporation and Allwater staff for their assistance in sample collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural and Built Environments Research Centre, School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia

    Meena K. Yadav, Michael D. Short, Ben van den Akker, Rupak Aryal & Christopher P. Saint

  2. Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia

    Michael D. Short & Christopher P. Saint

  3. School of Pharmacy and Medical Science, City East Campus, North Terrace, Playford Building, Level 4, Room 47, Adelaide, SA, 5000, Australia

    Cobus Gerber

  4. Australian Water Quality Centre, SA Water, 250 Victoria Square, Adelaide SA 5000; GPO Box 1751, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    Ben van den Akker

  5. Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia

    Christopher P. Saint

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  1. Meena K. Yadav
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  2. Michael D. Short
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  3. Cobus Gerber
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Correspondence to Christopher P. Saint.

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Yadav, M.K., Short, M.D., Gerber, C. et al. Occurrence, removal and environmental risk of markers of five drugs of abuse in urban wastewater systems in South Australia. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 33816–33826 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2464-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2464-6

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