title: Occurrence of pharmaceuticals in river water and their elimination in a pilot-scale drinking water treatment plant.
abstract: The occurrence of four beta blockers, one antiepileptic drug, one lipid regulator, four anti-inflammatories, and three fluoroquinolones was studied in a river receiving sewage effluents. All compounds but two of the fluoroquinolones were observed in the water above their limit of quantification concentrations. The highest concentrations (up to 107 ng L(-1)) of the compounds were measured during the winter months. The river water was passed to a pilot-scale drinking water treatment plant, and the elimination of the pharmaceuticals was followed during the treatment. The processes applied by the plant consisted of ferric salt coagulation, rapid sand filtration, ozonation, two-stage granular activated carbon filtration (GAC), and UV disinfection. Following the coagulation, sedimentation, and rapid sand filtration, the studied pharmaceuticals were found to be eliminated only by an average of 13%. An efficient elimination was found to take place during ozonation at an ozone dose of about 1 mg L(-1) (i.e., 0.2-0.4 mg of O3/ mg of TOC). Following this treatment, the concentrations of the pharmaceuticals dropped to below the quantification limits with the exception of ciprofloxacin. Atenolol, sotalol, and ciprofloxacin, the most hydrophilic of the studied pharmaceuticals, were not fully eliminated during the GAC filtrations. All in all, the treatment train was found to very effectively eliminate the pharmaceuticals from the rawwater. The only compound that was found to pass almost unaffected through all the treatment steps was ciprofloxacin.
authors: Abo Akademi University, Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Biskopsgatan 8, FIN-20500 Turku, Finland.
authors: Niina M
authors: NM
authors: Vieno
authors: Heli
authors: H
authors: Härkki
authors: Tuula
authors: T
authors: Tuhkanen
authors: Leif
authors: L
authors: Kronberg
mesh_terms: D005618:Fresh Water; D010126:Ozone / Q000737:chemistry; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D010126:Ozone