Dynamics of drug contamination of the river-water in the rural, semirural and urban areas of the Mrežnica River in Croatia during COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021)

Stipaničev, Draženka; Dragun, Zrinka; Repec, Siniša; Ivanković, Dušica; Barac, Fran; Kiralj, Zoran; Kralj, Tomislav; Valić, Damir (2023) Dynamics of drug contamination of the river-water in the rural, semirural and urban areas of the Mrežnica River in Croatia during COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 30 . pp. 93652-93666. ISSN 0944-1344

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Abstract

Increased contamination of aquatic ecosystems with pharmaceuticals could have been expected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Surface water from three domains (rural, semirural, urban) of the Mrežnica River (Croatia) was screened for 253 pharmaceuticals by SPE-UHPLC-MS/MS. At the beginning of the pandemic, the highest concentration of drugs (excluding veterinary) was detected at urban site (291.4 ng/L), followed by semirural (186.5 ng/L), and rural (141.6 ng/L). With the progression of pandemic, contamination increase was observed at all sites, but it was the most obvious at semirural (approximately 400-700 ng/L). The most pronounced concentration increases were observed for nonopioid analgesics, especially ibuprofen. In September 2021, the first notable occurrence of opioid analgesics was recorded. The most represented group of pharmaceuticals at the start of the pandemic (May 2020) were generally stimulants (caffeine, cotinine). In September 2021, the predominant group was analgesics at all sites (45-84 %), whereas stimulants decreased to undetectable levels. The results of this study indicated that the epidemiological measures and medical treatments, that were widely imposed/applied, caused notable increase of the surface water contamination with drugs of a small river with limited dilution capacity, indirectly pointing to the changes that occurred in the behaviour and habits of the inhabitants of the affected areas.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	analgesics; ibuprofen; pharmaceuticals; stimulants; surface water
Subjects:	NATURAL SCIENCES > Interdisciplinary Natural Sciences > Environmental Science
Divisions:	Division for Marine and Enviromental Research
Projects:	Project title Project leader Project code Project type Biomolekule koje vežu metale i zdravstveni poremećaji kod slatkovodnih organizama izloženih industrijskom otpadu-METABIOM Zrinka Dragun IP-2019-04-2636 HRZZ
Depositing User:	Zrinka Dragun
Date Deposited:	25 Jan 2024 12:41
URI:	http://fulir.irb.hr/id/eprint/8361
DOI:	10.1007/s11356-023-28845-7

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