title: Occurrence, removal and environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in rural wastewater treatment wetlands.
abstract: Rural communities in central and eastern Europe usually use constructed wetlands (CWs) to treat domestic wastewater. Effluents from these systems are regularly discharged to receiving water, resulting in a potential transfer of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from sewage to the aquatic environment. In this study, the seasonal occurrence, removal and risk assessment of 32 multi-class PPCPs were investigated in three CWs from the village of south Bohemia, Czech Republic. Among the PPCPs considered, 25 compounds were detected in sewage influent, and ibuprofen, caffeine and paracetamol were the most commonly detected PPCPs. The removal efficiencies of PPCPs in the rural CWs exhibited large variability with 11-100% for anti-inflammatories, 37-99% for β-blockers and 18-95% for diuretics. The statistical results revealed significant correlations between removal efficiencies of six PPCPs and conventional water quality parameters. The ecotoxicological assessment study revealed that most of the PPCPs (except ibuprofen) in the effluent yielded low aquatic risk. This study suggested that constructed wetlands could be effective for removing PPCPs and reducing environmental risk of PPCPs discharged from rural communities into surface water systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 16521 Prague, 6, Czech Republic; Key Laboratory of Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, PR China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 16521 Prague, 6, Czech Republic. Electronic address: vymazal@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vymazal
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 16521 Prague, 6, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Tereza
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Březinová
authors.affiliation: Vltaeva River Board, Holečkova 8, 152 00 Praha, 5, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Milan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koželuh
authors.affiliation: Vltaeva River Board, Holečkova 8, 152 00 Praha, 5, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Lumír
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kule
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, PR China.
authors.forename: Jingang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, 16521 Prague, 6, Czech Republic; College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Shizishan 1, 430070 Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhongbing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D018153:Czech Republic; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000032:analysis*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012424:Rural Population; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Environmental risk; Pharmaceuticals and personal care products; Small community; Treatment wetlands