Pharmaceutical Removal and Environmental Risk at a South African Wastewater Treatment Plant
Author Information
Author(s): Nikitha Inarmal, Brenda Moodley
Primary Institution: University of KwaZulu-Natal
Hypothesis
How do seasonal variations affect the removal efficiencies of pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment?
Conclusion
The study found that removal efficiencies of pharmaceuticals varied significantly, with some compounds showing high environmental risk due to inadequate removal.
Supporting Evidence
- Influent concentrations of analytes ranged from 0.008184 to 1.243 mg L−1.
- Removal efficiencies ranged from 7.70 to > 99.99% of analyte removed.
- Environmental risk assessment ratios ranged from 0.0863 to 10.5 × 108.
- Ratios for metformin and valsartan were well below 1, indicating low environmental risk.
- Ivermectin showed high environmental risk with ratios ranging from 25.4 × 107 to 10.5 × 108.
Takeaway
This study looked at how well a wastewater treatment plant cleans pharmaceuticals from water, finding that some medicines are still harmful to the environment even after treatment.
Methodology
The study used solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to analyze wastewater samples collected over three campaigns.
Limitations
The study was conducted during a flooding event which may have affected treatment efficiency.
Participant Demographics
The wastewater treatment plant serviced a population of approximately 539,069 people.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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