title: Acesulfame-K and pharmaceuticals as co-tracers of municipal wastewater in a receiving river.
abstract: Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents are important sources of emerging contaminants at environmentally-relevant concentrations. In this study, water samples were collected from a river downstream of two WWTPs to identify practical tracers for tracking wastewater. The results of the study indicate elevated concentrations of Cl(-), nutrients (NH3-N and NO2(-)), the artificial sweetener acesulfame-K (ACE-K), and the pharmaceuticals carbamazepine (CBZ), caffeine (CAF), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), ibuprofen (IBU), gemfibrozil (GEM), and naproxen (NAP) in the river close to the WWTPs that decreased with distance downstream. A correlation analysis using the Spearman Rank method showed that ACE-K, CBZ, GEM, NAP, and Cl(-) were strongly correlated with each other over a 31 km stretch of the river in the study area. The strong correlations of these target compounds indicate that the artificial sweetener ACE-K and the pharmaceuticals CBZ, GEM, and NAP can potentially be used as co-tracers to track wastewater.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G1. ptacek@uwaterloo.ca.
authors.forename: YingYing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Blowes
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Groza
authors.forename: Michelle J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Sabourin
authors.forename: Carol J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Ptacek
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis*; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013843:Thiazines / Q000032:analysis; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D013843:Thiazines; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C006362:acetosulfame