title: Occurrence of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in Tehran source water, municipal and hospital wastewaters, and their ecotoxicological risk assessment.
abstract: Pharmaceuticals are becoming widely distributed in waters and wastewaters and pose a serious threat to public health. The present study aimed to analyze non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in surface waters, drinking water, and wastewater in Tehran, Iran. Thirty-six samples were collected from surface waters, tap water, and influent and effluent of municipal and hospital wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). A solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was used for the determination of pharmaceuticals, namely ibuprofen (IBP), naproxen (NPX), diclofenac (DIC), and indomethacin (IDM). IBP was found in most of the samples and had the highest concentration. The highest concentrations of NSAIDs were found in the municipal WWTP influents and hospital WWTP effluents. In the municipal WWTP influent samples, the concentrations of IBP, NPX, DIC, and IDM were 1.05, 0.43, 0.23, and 0.11 μg/L, respectively. DIC was found only in one river sample. All NSAIDs were detected in tap water samples. However, their concentration was very low and the maximum values for IBP, NPX, DIC, and IDM were 47, 39, 24, and 37 ng/L, respectively, in tap water samples. Results showed that the measured pharmaceuticals were detected in all rivers with low concentrations in nanograms per liter range, except DIC which was found only in one river. Furthermore, this study showed that the aforementioned pharmaceuticals are not completely removed during their passage through WWTPs. A potential environmental risk of selected NSAIDs for the urban wastewater has been discussed. However, given their low measured concentrations, no ecotoxicological effect is suspected to occur.
authors.affiliation: Environmental and Occupational Hazards Control Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.|Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Akbar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eslami
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Shaihd Beheshti University, G.C., Tehran, 1983963113, Iran.
authors.forename: Mostafa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Amini
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Yazdanbakhsh
authors.affiliation: Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Noushin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rastkari
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Anoushiravan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mohseni-Bandpei
authors.affiliation: Center for water Quality Research, Institute for Environmental Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Simin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nasseri
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Piroti
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of public Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. anvarasadi@sbmu.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Anvar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asadi
mesh_terms: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D004008:Diclofenac; D054750:Ecotoxicology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D006761:Hospitals; D007052:Ibuprofen; D007492:Iran; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D009288:Naproxen; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D004008:Diclofenac; D007052:Ibuprofen; D009288:Naproxen; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Iran; Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry; Monitoring; Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; Risk assessment; Surface waters; Tehran; Wastewater