title: Comprehensive evaluation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in typical highly urbanized regions across China.
abstract: This study evaluated the occurrence of 36 PPCPs in urban river water samples collected from Beijing, Changzhou and Shenzhen. Twenty-eight compounds were detected. Compounds found with highest median concentrations included: sulfadimethoxine (164 ng/L), sulpiride (77.3 ng/L), atenolol (52.9 ng/L), and indomethacin (50.9 ng/L). Antibiotic was the predominant class detected and contributed about half of the overall PPCPs contamination level. Effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) were demonstrated to be the predominant pathways through which PPCPs entering into aquatic environment in all investigated areas. The ratio of persistent PPCPs like sulpiride and carbamazepine was identified to be feasible in tracing their contamination sources in rivers. Concentrations of most detected PPCPs showed significant positive correlations with total nitrogen and total phosphorus. Two groups of representative PPCPs were selected as the chemical indicators for predicting the overall PPCPs contamination, based on the significant correlations between PPCPs.
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China; Research Center for Environmental Engineering and Management, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhuo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China; Research Center for Environmental Engineering and Management, Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, PR China.
authors.forename: Xi-Hui
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China; State Key Joint Laboratory on Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China; State Key Joint Laboratory on Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China. Electronic address: wanghui@tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D003358:Cosmetics / Q000737:chemistry*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000737:chemistry*; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D014507:Urbanization; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical
chemical_list: D003358:Cosmetics; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Chemical indicator; Contamination sources; PPCPs concentrations; Spatial distribution; Tracer