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Impact of on-site, small and large scale wastewater treatment facilities on levels and fate of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, artificial sweeteners, pesticides, and perfluoroalkyl substances in recipient waters
Open accessAbstract
One of the main risks associated with effluents from both wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and on-site sewage treatment facilities (OSSFs) is the release of micropollutants (MPs) in receiving water bodies. However, the impact of MPs present in the effluents of OSSFs in the aquatic environment has not been studied so far. The current study evaluates the impact of the effluents of OSSFs and small-to-large scale WWTPs on natural waters. The discharge of 74 MPs was assessed including pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, artificial sweeteners and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). The sampling was carried out within a Swedish catchment and included three sites that are exclusively affected by OSSFs and other sites that are mainly affected by WWTPs or a mixture of sources (7 sites, 28 samples). Results show that although OSSFs serve a much smaller total number of people, the MPs emitted from OSSFs reached the aquatic environment in significant quantities (concentrations of >150ngL-1 of ∑MPs). The composition profiles for sites affected by WWTPs were similar and were dominated by sucralose (27% of the ∑MPs), caffeine (27% of the ∑MPs), lamotrigine (10% of the ∑MPs), desvenlafaxine (5% of the ∑MPs), and diclofenac (4% of the ∑MPs). In contrast, the sites affected by OSSFs showed high variability, exhibiting a different profile from those affected by WWTPs and also from each other, demonstrating that OSSFs are not homogeneous sources of MPs. Some specific compounds, such as diethyltoluamide (DEET) and caffeine, were proportionally much more important at sites affected by OSSFs than at sites affected by WWTPs (representing a much higher percentage of the ∑MPs in the OSSFs). In contrast, PFASs did not show high concentration variation among the different sampling sites and the composition profiles were relatively similar, indicating that these substances follow different routes of entry into the aquatic environment.
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“This aligns with previous findings, showing low variability in PFAS concentrations across this stream (Gago-Ferrero et al., 2017).”
From Stormwater discharges affect PFAS occurrence, concentrations, and spatial distribution in water and bottom sediment of urban streams (2025) · cites this paper as Gago-Ferrero et al., 2017
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“Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are relevant input sources of PFASin the aquatic environment as they receive waste from residential, commercial, and industrial facilities (Paul et al., 2008; Gago-Ferrero et al., 2017).”
From Occurrence of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances in wastewater treatment plants in Northern Italy (2023) · cites this paper as Gago-Ferrero et al., 2017
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Metadata
- Authors
- Gago-Ferrero, P., Gros, M., Ahrens, L., & Wiberg, K.
- Affiliations
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Gago-Ferrero, Pablo
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-12
- Volume
- 601-602
- Pages
- 1289-1297
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2623369654
- Cited by
- 129
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 5.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas (216-2012-2101)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Engineering › Urban Stormwater Management Solutions
- Keywords
- micropollutants, wastewater treatment plants, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, artificial sweeteners, pesticides, perfluorinated compounds, wastewater discharge, sucralose, caffeine, lamotrigine, diclofenac, DEET
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