Grantee Research Project Results
2003 Progress Report: Pharmaceuticals and Antiseptics: Occurrence and Fate in Drinking Water, Sewage Treatment Facilities, and Coastal Waters
EPA Grant Number: R829004Title: Pharmaceuticals and Antiseptics: Occurrence and Fate in Drinking Water, Sewage Treatment Facilities, and Coastal Waters
Investigators: Roberts, A. Lynn , Bouwer, Edward J.
Institution: The Johns Hopkins University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Project Period: September 1, 2001 through August 31, 2004 (Extended to August 9, 2006)
Project Period Covered by this Report: September 1, 2002 through August 31, 2003
Project Amount: $524,890
RFA: Drinking Water (2000) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Drinking Water , Water Quality , Water
Objective:
Before initiating this research, there was a paucity of information concerning the occurrence, (eco)toxic risk, and fate of pharmaceuticals in the United States. This study was designed to redress critical aspects of this deficiency by providing an assessment of the prevalence of important pharmaceuticals and antiseptics in drinking water, sewage treatment plant (STP) influent and effluent, and receiving waters. The objectives of this research project are to: (1) compile data on pharmaceutical usage, probable environmental concentrations, and associated risk; (2) select target compounds based on resulting calculations of potential environmental concentrations and, where possible, environmental risk; (3) refine analytical methods for quantification of pharmaceuticals in sewage and drinking water samples using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) techniques that can be readily adopted by others; (4) analyze concentrations of target pharmaceuticals in raw and finished drinking water samples from public water treatment plants to relate removal efficiency to the specific treatment processes employed; and (5) examine the adequacy of current wastewater treatment practices for reducing pharmaceutical emissions by analyzing influent and effluent samples from sewage treatment plants.
Progress Summary:
Years 1 and 2 of the project have been devoted primarily to the first two objectives. Although we determined that compilation of use and risk data was complete in the Year 1 progress report, we have subsequently discovered better and more complete databases that are leading us to extend our prior calculations. Method refinement for a suite of compounds that can be determined by derivatization (followed by GC/MS with either electron impact or negative chemical ionization) is 100 percent complete, and we have applied these methods to the analysis of anticonvulsant drugs in sewage treatment plant influent and effluent. During Year 3 of the project, we will focus on the development of methods for additional pharmaceutical compounds and additional analyses of drinking water and wastewater samples.
The data set pertaining to pharmaceutical usage and risk has been expanded and updated. Most notably, the database was updated for the current year (2002), and data on pharmaceutical usage by hospitals was incorporated as a separate category. Very few of the "Top 200" pharmaceuticals appear in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ecotoxicology database; therefore, the use of estimates of production data for selecting analytes will have to rely largely on estimates of expected introduction concentration (EIC) values, in addition to other factors (chemical or therapeutic class, amenability to GC/MS analysis following derivatization if required, and availability of isotopically labeled surrogate compounds). Several additional potential analytes have been identified through this process, most of which do not seem to have been targeted by other investigators. The results should prove useful in focusing attention on existing pharmaceuticals most likely to be encountered at environmentally significant concentrations and that could pose (eco)toxic risks.
Analytical methods developed by others were refined to provide the sensitivity needed to quantify six pharmaceuticals (phenytoin, valproic acid, 5-fluorouracil, primidone, phenobarbital, and secobarbital) in natural waters. Most of these compounds are anticonvulsant drugs; one (5-fluorouracil) is an antineoplastic drug. Selection of target compounds was based in part on calculations of potential environmental concentrations, as well as screening studies conducted on sewage treatment plant influents. Persistence and environmental risk associated with these pharmaceuticals (inferred from existing literature) also was taken into account. The procedures we have developed provide improved detection limits (as much as three orders of magnitude below those reported by others). We have attained the extremely high sensitivity needed for analyzing trace concentrations in drinking water, while relying on benchtop GC/MS techniques that require modest instrument costs. A manuscript describing this method, and its application to sewage plant influent/effluent, is nearing completion. The procedure we have developed can be used by many other researchers with access to GC/MS instruments. This should help catalyze future studies of pharmaceuticals as environmental contaminants by other research groups.
Biodegradation studies involving two anticonvulsant drugs and one antiseptic compound also have been initiated during Year 2 of the project. The objective of these studies is to understand compound interactions that may occur during biodegradation. To study compound biodegradation efficiently and to enable the processing of the large numbers of samples required, the analytical method developed for ultratrace analysis of phenytoin and valproic acid in environmental samples was extended to include triclosan and was greatly simplified by substituting a liquid-liquid extraction step for the solid phase extraction step. The modified analytical method currently is being applied to the study of contaminant interactions in batch biodegradation experiments. The results should prove useful in assessing potential limitations associated with normal screening tests conducted with defined media.
Future Activities:
We will continue our efforts to develop methods suitable for the analysis of additional human pharmaceuticals, selected on the basis of their EIC values, likely toxicity, and amenability to analysis via GC/MS techniques. Concentrations of target analytes will be determined in raw and finished drinking water samples obtained from public utilities across the United States. Removal efficiencies will be related to treatment processes employed. The adequacy of current wastewater treatment practices for reducing emission of pharmaceuticals and a selected antiseptic will be examined by further measuring their concentrations in an additional STP.
We will continue to conduct laboratory studies examining the biodegradation of selected pharmaceuticals in the presence of a selected antiseptic, and to investigate whether toxic/ inhibitory effects introduced by interactions with antimicrobials could limit biodegradability in actual wastewater. Results obtained in "clean" microcosms will be compared to those obtained in actual STP waters.
Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 20 publications | 2 publications in selected types | All 2 journal articles |
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Padma TV, Blumenfeld ML, Roberts AL. Detection of anticonvulsant drugs in sewage effluents by gas-chromatography mass-spectrometric techniques. Journal of Chromatography A. |
R829004 (2003) |
not available |
Supplemental Keywords:
environmental engineering, environmental chemistry, groundwater, estuary, risk assessment, ecosystem protection, environmental exposure and risk, waste, water, drinking water, groundwater remediation, wastewater, analytical methods, analytical chemistry, antiseptics, chemical contaminants, drinking water contaminants, effluents, exposure, exposure and effects, fate and transport, monitoring, personal care products, pharmaceuticals, sewage treatment plants, STPs, surface water, treatment, wastewater treatment plants., RFA, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Scientific Discipline, Water, Waste, Ecological Risk Assessment, Fate & Transport, Environmental Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Groundwater remediation, Wastewater, Monitoring/Modeling, Drinking Water, Environmental Engineering, Environmental Monitoring, anticeptics, sewage treatment plants, treatment, monitoring, analytical methods, effluents, wastewater treatment plants, chemical contaminants, personal care products, fate and transport, water treatment, drinking water contaminants, groundwater, exposure, other - risk assessment, pharmaceuticals, groundwater monitoring, surface waterProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.