Pharmaceuticals in tap water: human health risk assessment and proposed monitoring framework in China

Pharmaceuticals are known to contaminate tap water worldwide, but the relevant human health risks have not been assessed in China. We monitored 32 pharmaceuticals in Chinese tap water and evaluated the life-long human health risks of exposure in order to provide information for future prioritization...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental health perspectives 2013-07, Vol.121 (7), p.839-846
Main Authors: Leung, Ho Wing, Jin, Ling, Wei, Si, Tsui, Mirabelle Mei Po, Zhou, Bingsheng, Jiao, Liping, Cheung, Pak Chuen, Chun, Yiu Kan, Murphy, Margaret Burkhardt, Lam, Paul Kwan Sing
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acids
Adolescent
Adult
Age
Biomarkers - analysis
Caffeine
Chemicals
Child
Child, Preschool
China
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Cities
Drinking water
Drinking Water - analysis
Drug dosages
Drugs
Environmental aspects
Environmental Exposure
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Environmental protection
Female
Health
Health aspects
Health risk assessment
Health risks
Human
Humans
Industrialized nations
Infant
Male
Middle Aged
Monitoring
Nanostructure
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
Pharmaceutical industry
Pharmaceutical Preparations - analysis
Pharmaceuticals
Regulation
Risk
Risk Assessment
Risk management
Tandem Mass Spectrometry
Tap water
Toxicity
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Water pollution
Water Purification
Water treatment
Young Adult
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Summary:Pharmaceuticals are known to contaminate tap water worldwide, but the relevant human health risks have not been assessed in China. We monitored 32 pharmaceuticals in Chinese tap water and evaluated the life-long human health risks of exposure in order to provide information for future prioritization and risk management. We analyzed samples (n = 113) from 13 cities and compared detected concentrations with existing or newly-derived safety levels for assessing risk quotients (RQs) at different life stages, excluding the prenatal stage. We detected 17 pharmaceuticals in 89% of samples, with most detectable concentrations (92%) at < 50 ng/L. Caffeine (median-maximum, nanograms per liter: 24.4-564), metronidazole (1.8-19.3), salicylic acid (16.6-41.2), clofibric acid (1.2-3.3), carbamazepine (1.3-6.7), and dimetridazole (6.9-14.7) were found in ≥ 20% of samples. Cities within the Yangtze River region and Guangzhou were regarded as contamination hot spots because of elevated levels and frequent positive detections. Of the 17 pharmaceuticals detected, 13 showed very low risk levels, but 4 (i.e., dimetridazole, thiamphenicol, sulfamethazine, and clarithromycin) were found to have at least one life-stage RQ ≥ 0.01, especially for the infant and child life stages, and should be considered of high priority for management. We propose an indicator-based monitoring framework for providing information for source identification, water treatment effectiveness, and water safety management in China. Chinese tap water is an additional route of human exposure to pharmaceuticals, particularly for dimetridazole, although the risk to human health is low based on current toxicity data. Pharmaceutical detection and application of the proposed monitoring framework can be used for water source protection and risk management in China and elsewhere.
ISSN:0091-6765
1552-9924
DOI:10.1289/ehp.1206244