Spatial and temporal occurrence of pharmaceuticals in UK estuaries

There is a lack of data on the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in estuaries worldwide, with little understanding of their temporal and spatial variations globally. Ibuprofen, paracetamol, diclofenac, trimethoprim and citalopram were measured in twelve estuaries in the UK. Initially, these compounds we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2019-08, Vol.678, p.74-84
Main Authors: Letsinger, Sarah, Kay, Paul, Rodríguez-Mozaz, Sara, Villagrassa, Marta, Barceló, Damià, Rotchell, Jeanette M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Emerging contaminants
Environmental Monitoring
Estuaries
Estuary
Occurrence
Pharmaceutical Preparations - analysis
Pharmaceuticals
Spatial distribution
Temporal distribution
United Kingdom
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
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Summary:There is a lack of data on the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in estuaries worldwide, with little understanding of their temporal and spatial variations globally. Ibuprofen, paracetamol, diclofenac, trimethoprim and citalopram were measured in twelve estuaries in the UK. Initially, these compounds were monitored in the Humber Estuary, where samples were taken every two months over a twelve month period in order to assess their spatial and temporal variations. Ibuprofen was found at some of the highest concentrations ever measured in an estuary globally (18–6297 ng l−1), with paracetamol also measured at relatively high concentrations (4–917 ng l−1) in comparison to the other compounds. In terms of spatial distribution, a pattern was observed where the highest concentrations were found at a site at which wastewater is discharged, whilst compound concentrations were often lower upstream and downstream of this site. The downstream profile of pharmaceuticals differed temporally with concentrations highest downstream when input from wastewater effluent was highest. Eleven further estuaries were sampled around the UK in order to put the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the Humber Estuary into a wider context. Pharmaceutical concentrations in the other estuaries sampled were
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.182