1. Levels of Selected Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in Seawater from Tromsø, Norway
Julie Strømberg1, Helene Thorsen Rønning2, Aasim Musa M. Ali3, Terje Vasskog4, Roland Kallenborn1,5
1 Faculty of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Norwegian University of Life Science, Ås, Norway
2 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo, Norway
3 Faculty of Marine Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
4 Norut Northern Research Institute, Tromsø, Norway
5 The University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
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Introduction
Residues of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the aquatic environment are today acknowledged as potential contaminants. In sensitive aquatic environments, PPCPs are associated with a variety of adverse effects which include endocrine disruption, teratogenic effects and resistance to antibiotics. The predominant source for these environmental pollutants is identified as sewage release. Northern aquatic environments seem especially prone to these types of environmental consequences due to; 1) the general lack of full stage sewage treatment facilities, 2) the low year-round ambient temperatures leading to slow degradation and long half-life time for the respective contaminants. Due to the above issues, investigation, scientific risk assessment and monitoring of PPCPs is an important focus in environmental research in order to assess implications for long-term exposure for humans and environment.
Compounds and Location
In this investigation 30 compounds (table 1) was selected based on sales statistics in Norway. For 7 days, 6 L of seawater was collected daily at location point 1 (figure 1) in October The sampling was done in the Tromsøysund close to the sewage outlet of Breivika connected to UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the University Hospital (Universitetssykehuset i Nord-Norge, UNN). According to a previous investigation in the same area (Weigel, et al. 2004) the concentrations were expected to be in the range of pg/L and ng/L in seawater samples.
The 7 compounds were identified and quantified with Dynamic Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) by using the transitions of Paracetamol 152 -> 110, Caffeine 195 -> 138, Carbamazepine 237 -> 194, Atenolol > 190.1, Metoprolol > 116.2, Trimethoprim > and Ranitidine 315 -> 130 (figure 2).
Figure 2: Dynamic MRM chromatograms of extracted analytes from seawater samples
Figure 1: A map of the different locations in Breivika in Tromsø. 1) Sampling location, 2) Approximate location of the outlet (30 m below water surface) of sewage from Breivika STP, 3) Location of Breivika sewage treatment plant.
Method
A multi-compound method based on a similar study (Ali, Rønning et al. 2017) was used for the quantitative trace analysis of relevant PPCPs in recipient seawater. The method for seawater samples is based on a solid phase extraction (SPE) of 1 L seawater sample followed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) quantification.
Figure 3: Weekly variation in the calculated concentrations of PPCPs found in seawater samples represented in a graph to highlight differences during the week
1 L Seawater
SPE
HPLC-MS/MS
Conclusions
PPCPs in similar and in some cases even higher concentration ranges as reported in earlier studies from the same area (Weigel et al. 2004) were found in the here performed survey.
Considerable variations reveal difference sin consumption behavior and release patterns
Acknowledgement
This project has received financial support from the Fram Centre flagship project “Hazardous substances”: Transformation properties and environmental risk associated with pharmaceutical residues in the Arctic (Thrapha). The collaboration with Akvaplan niva during the field work in Tromsø is highly appreciated. Special thanks to Guttorm Christensen (Akvaplan niva) , Anita Evenset (Akvaplan niva) and Einar Jensen (UiT The Arctic University of Norway) for help and scientific advice.
Results
Seawater samples collected from location 1 (figure 1) was analysed and 7 out of 26 compounds (figure 3) were identified and quantified. The most abundant compounds were Paracetamol and Caffeine which ranged from 70 – 400 ng/L. Ranitidine varied from under LoQ to 75 ng/L, and the rest did not exceed 15 ng/L. None of the target analytes were found in the reference water samples that were collected on a location far away from the city and outlet from STPs.
References
Ali, A. M., et al. (2017). "Occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in effluent-dominated Saudi Arabian coastal waters of the Red Sea." Chemosphere 175:
Weigel, S., Berger, U., Jensen, E., Kallenborn, R., Thoresen, H., & Huhnerfuss, H. (2004). Determination of selected pharmaceuticals and caffeine in sewage and seawater from Tromso/Norway with emphasis on ibuprofen and its metabolites. Chemosphere, 56(6),