Pharmaceutical residues in wastewater treatment works effluents and their impact on receiving river water
Abstract
Various pharmaceutical residues are being discharged from wastewater treatment works (WTW) effluents, the impact of which on river water quality is of high relevance to environmental risk assessment. The concentrations of eleven pharmaceutical compounds were determined in three WTWs in England, and the river Ouse receiving effluents from Scaynes Hill WTW. Results show that five compounds propranolol, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, indomethacin and diclofenac were detected in all wastewater and river water samples, with carbamazepine showing the highest concentrations (up to 2336 ng L(-1)) in WTW influent. Different compounds were removed to different extent in the WTWs, varying from 43 to 92%, with the highest performance obtained by the WTW with tertiary treatment (sand filtration). The pharmaceutical residues from Scaynes Hill WTW were eventually discharged into the river Ouse, causing an elevation in their concentrations downstream of the outfall. This was confirmed by the good agreement between measured concentrations and those predicted by a simple dilution model.
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Antibiotics are not easily biodegradable; residual antibiotics increase resistance of aquatic microorganisms and cause serious impacts on the ecological environment through bioaccumulation and biomagnification.
“Among these contaminants, antibiotics are not easily biodegradable; residual antibiotics will increase the resistance of aquatic microorganisms, and can cause serious impacts on the ecological environment through bioaccumulation and biomagnification (Zhou etal. 2009).”
From Review of organic and inorganic pollutants removal by biochar and biochar-based composites (2021) · cites this paper as Zhou et al. (2009)
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- Authors
- Zhou, J. L., Zhang, Z. L., Banks, E., Grover, D., & Jiang, J. Q.
- Affiliations
- University of Sussex (GB)
- University of Surrey (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Zhou, J.L.
- Venue
- Journal of Hazardous Materials
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-07
- Volume
- 166
- Issue
- 2-3
- Pages
- 655-661
- ISSN
- 0304-3894 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2058586389
- Cited by
- 312
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 16
- FWCI
- 11.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Hazardous Materials (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ResearchOnline (Glasgow Caledonian University) (acceptedVersion)
- Surrey Research Insight Open Access (The University of Surrey) (submittedVersion)
- OPUS - Open Publications of UTS Scholars (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
- UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
- ResearchOnline (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Interreg (162/039/096)
- Sixth Framework Programme (MIF1-CT-2004-510012)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Effects and risks of endocrine disrupting chemicals
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pesticide and Herbicide Environmental Studies
- Keywords
- pharmaceutical pollutants, river water quality, carbamazepine, propranolol, sulfamethoxazole, indomethacin, diclofenac, advanced wastewater treatment, sand filtration, dilution model, River Ouse, environmental risk assessment
- MeSH terms
- Carbamazepine, Diclofenac, Pharmaceutical Preparations, United Kingdom, Indomethacin, Propranolol, Sulfamethoxazole, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Rivers
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