title: Accumulation of pharmaceuticals in groundwater under arid climate conditions - Results from unsaturated column experiments.
abstract: Intense reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture is practiced all over the world, especially in arid and water-scarce regions. In doing so, pharmaceutical residues in the water are irrigated to the soil and subsequently can percolate into the local aquifers. Since evaporation rates in these areas are typically high, persistent substances might enrich in the groundwater recharge of closed catchments like the Jordan Valley. Against this background, unsaturated column tests were conducted to investigate the potential for evaporative accumulation of the two pharmaceuticals bezafibrate and carbamazepine under simulated arid climate conditions. Parallel tests were conducted with inhibited microbiological activity where both substances showed an increase in the effluent concentrations proportional to the evaporation loss of the inflow solution. The mean accumulation factors of the pharmaceuticals correspond to the evaporated water loss. The experiments indicate the accumulation potential for pharmaceuticals with high persistence against biodegradation. For the first time, the overall potential for evaporative enrichment could be demonstrated for pharmaceuticals. Under the given experimental conditions, the two investigated pharmaceuticals did not enrich faster than chloride, which might result in soil salting prior to reaching harmful pharmaceutical concentrations in soil water. The findings are relevant to future assessments of environmental impacts of persistent trace substances, which need to take into account that concentrations in the aquatic cycle might increase further due to evaporative enrichment.
authors.affiliation: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Applied Geosciences, Division of Hydrogeology, Kaiserstraße 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany. Electronic address: moritz.zemann@kit.edu.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zemann
authors.affiliation: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Engler-Bunte-Institut, Chair of Water Chemistry and Water Technology, Engler-Bunte-Ring 1, 76327 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Majewsky
authors.affiliation: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Project Management Agency Karlsruhe (PTKA), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wolf
mesh_terms: D001629:Bezafibrate / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002220:Carbamazepine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D003889:Desert Climate; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001629:Bezafibrate; D002220:Carbamazepine; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Bezafibrate; Carbamazepine; Evaporative enrichment; Irrigation; Persistent organic pollutant; Treated wastewater