The occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern in Slovenian and Croatian wastewaters and receiving Sava river

Česen, Marjeta; Ahel, Marijan; Terzić, Senka; Heath, David John; Heath E., Ester (2019) The occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern in Slovenian and Croatian wastewaters and receiving Sava river. Science of the Total Environment, 650 . pp. 2446-2453. ISSN 0048-9697

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Abstract

This study investigated the occurrence of 48 contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in wastewater effluents from three Slovenian and three Croatian waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) representing the major inputs into the upper and middle course of the Sava River and simultaneously in the Sava River itself. Two sampling campaigns were carried out (May and July 2017). Samples were extracted using solid- phase extraction and analysed by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. In effluents, 23 CECs were >LOQ with caffeine and the UV-filter 4-hydroxybenzophenone (H-BP) present in the highest concentrations (<49, 600 ng L−1 and <28, 900 ng L−1, respectively) and most frequently detected (detection frequency ; DFr > 83.3%). Bisphenol B and E were detected for the first time in WW from Velika Gorica (May) and Zaprešić (July), respectively. In surface water (SW), 19 CECs were detected >LOQ with CAF again being the most abundant and most frequently detected (DFr = 92.9%). Bisphenols AP, CL2, P and Z were detected >LOQ for the first time in European SW. Active pharmaceutical ingredients naproxen, ketoprofen, carbamazepine and diclofenac ; the preservative methyl paraben ; CAF and UV-filter HM-BP were the most abundant CECs in SW and WW. An increasing trend in the total CEC load downstream was observed, indicating the cumulative effects of individual sources along the river. The Croatian Zaprešić, Zagreb and Velika Gorica WWTP effluents contributed the most towards the enhanced loads of the CECs studied probably due to their size or insufficient treatment. HM-BP was the only compound found at a levels exhibiting high environmental risk (RQ = 1.13) downstream from Ljubljana and Domžale-Kamnik WWTPs. Other SW samples that contained HM-BP, ibuprofen (API) and/or benzyl paraben (preservative) posed a medium risk to the environment. The results suggest the need for further monitoring of CECs in the Sava River Basin.

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

The authors acknowledge the projects L1-5457, J1-6744, L1-7544, J2-8162, J1-8147, N1-0047, the program groups P1-0143 and P-0230, which were financially supported by Slovenian Research Agency and the bilateral project BI-HR/16-17-025 also supported by Slovenian Research Agency and Croatian Ministry of Science. This work was supported by EC 7th Framework Programme Funding under Grant agreement no. 603629-ENV-2013-6.2.1-Globaqua and MASSTWIN project that has received funding fromthe European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 692241.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

Sava River ; Contaminats of emerging concern ; Surface water ; Wastewater

Subjects:

NATURAL SCIENCES > Chemistry > Analytic Chemistry
NATURAL SCIENCES > Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences > Environmental Science

Divisions:

Division for Marine and Enviromental Research

Projects: