Pharmaceutical residues in water and sediment of Msunduzi River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

[Display omitted] •Data on pharmaceutical contamination of African water bodies is limited.•We determined pharmaceutical residues in Msunduzi River in KwaZulu-Natal.•Wastewater & bio-solids from a treatment plant in the catchment were also analysed.•Residues were found in surface water, sediment...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemosphere (Oxford) 2015-09, Vol.134, p.133-140
Main Authors: Matongo, Solomon, Birungi, Grace, Moodley, Brenda, Ndungu, Patrick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibiotics
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Drugs
Environmental Monitoring
Freshwater
Geologic Sediments - chemistry
Msunduzi River
Pharmaceutical Preparations - analysis
Pharmaceutical residues
Pharmaceuticals
Residues
Rivers
Rivers - chemistry
Sediments
South Africa
Surface water
Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Waste Water - chemistry
Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment plant
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
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Summary:[Display omitted] •Data on pharmaceutical contamination of African water bodies is limited.•We determined pharmaceutical residues in Msunduzi River in KwaZulu-Natal.•Wastewater & bio-solids from a treatment plant in the catchment were also analysed.•Residues were found in surface water, sediment, wastewater and bio-solids.•The antipyretic ibuprofen exhibited the highest concentration in the samples. The little data about pharmaceutical residue contamination in African water bodies motivated our study on the occurrence of pharmaceutical residues in the water and sediment of Msunduzi River in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa; and in the Darvill wastewater treatment plant found in Msunduzi catchment. Samples collected along the River and wastewater treatment plant were extracted and analysed for pharmaceutical residues selected based on statistics of drug usage in South Africa i.e. antipyretics, antibiotics, caffeine, an antiepileptic and an antipsychotic drug were determined using HPLC–MS/MS. In all the matrices investigated, the antipyretic ibuprofen had the highest concentration of up to 117μgL−1, 84.60μgL−1 and 659ngg−1 in wastewater, surface water and sediment respectively. Antibiotics were detected in generally low concentrations of
ISSN:0045-6535
1879-1298
DOI:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2015.03.093