Occurrence, fate and risk assessment of personal care products in river-groundwater interface.
This work presents the occurrence and fate of selected personal care products (PCPs) in the urban river-groundwater interface. To this end, urban river and groundwater samples were collected in Sant Adrià del Besòs (NE of Spain) and a total of 16 PCPs were analyzed including benzophenone derivatives, camphor derivatives, p-aminobenzoic acid derivatives, triazoles and parabens in three different campaigns (from May 2010 to July 2014). These compounds reach the aquifer through the recharge of Besòs River that receives large amounts of effluents from waste water treatment plants. Results have shown that most of the compounds were not or barely detected (maximum concentrations around 200ng/L) in groundwater samples during the different sampling campaigns. Only two triazoles, namely benzotriazole (BZT) and methyl benzotriazol (MeBZT) were found at high concentrations in groundwater samples (maximum concentration around 2000ng/L). The fate of PCPs in the aquifer was assessed using mixing analysis considering the seasonal variability of the Besòs River. Overall, measured groundwater concentrations were significantly much lower than those estimated by the mixing of the river water. This observation suggested that most of the PCPs are naturally removed when river water infiltrates the aquifer. However, some compounds were more persistent in the aquifer. These compounds were in descending order: the triazoles BZT and MeBZT followed by the camphor derivative 4MBC and the paraben MePB. The measured concentrations allowed us to assess the environmental risk posed by the selected UV-filters and parabens in the river and groundwater samples. Hazard Quotients (HQs) for different aquatic species were calculated in order to characterize the ecotoxicity potential of the studied compounds in the river-groundwater interface. HQ values were always below 1 indicating that at the concentrations observed in the surface or aquifer water of Besòs River these compounds pose no risk to the selected aquatic organisms.
Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment & Water Research (IDAEA), CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
Maria Pau
MP
Serra-Roig
University of Liège, ArGEnCo, GEO3, Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Aquapôle, B52/3 Sart-Tilman, 4000 Liege, Belgium. Electronic address: annajuradoelices@gmail.com.
Anna
A
Jurado
Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment & Water Research (IDAEA), CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
M Silvia
MS
Díaz-Cruz
GHS, Department of Geosciences, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain.
Enric
E
Vázquez-Suñé
University of Liège, ArGEnCo, GEO3, Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Aquapôle, B52/3 Sart-Tilman, 4000 Liege, Belgium.
Estanislao
E
Pujades
Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment & Water Research (IDAEA), CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain; Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Emili Grahit, 101, Edifici H2O, Parc Científic i Tecnològic de la Universitat de Girona, Girona 17003, Spain.
Damià
D
Barceló
D003358:Cosmetics / Q000032:analysis*; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013030:Spain; D014507:Urbanization; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
D003358:Cosmetics; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Field study; Parabens; Personal care products; Polluted river; UV filters; Urban groundwater