Sources of pharmaceutical pollution in the New York City Watershed

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 394; no. 1; pp. 90 - 102
• Main Authors: Palmer, Patrick M., Wilson, Lloyd R., O'Keefe, Patrick, Sheridan, Robert, King, Thomas, Chen, Chia-Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 01-05-2008; [Amsterdam; New York]: Elsevier Science; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Continental surface waters; Delaware; drugs; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; effluents; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environmental Monitoring; Exact sciences and technology; Freshwater; Natural water pollution; New York City; Other wastewaters; Pharmaceutical Preparations - analysis; Pharmaceuticals; Pollution; Pollution, environment geology; reservoirs; Seasons; Surface water; temporal variation; Waste Disposal, Fluid; Wastewater effluent; wastewater treatment; Wastewaters; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; water pollution; Water Pollution - analysis; Water Supply - analysis; Water treatment and pollution; watersheds; New York; New York City; United States; North America; America; Delaware; USA, New York, New York City; NYSDOH; WWTP; MS; Surface water; NYC; Wastewater effluent; ESI; HPLC; Pharmaceuticals; Drug; Mimetic hormone; Estrogen; Daily variation; Endocrine disruptor; Sewage treatment plant; Seasonal variation; Urban waste water; Water pollution; Waste water discharge; Xenobiotic; Organic compounds
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.01.011

An investigation was carried out in the New York City Watershed for the presence of selected pharmaceuticals. In four seasonal sampling events between August 2003 and May 2004, surface water was collected from eight reservoir keypoints and effluent was collected from four wastewater treatment plants. We evaluated the following twelve compounds: amoxicillin, atenolol, caffeine, carbamazepine, cephalexin, estrone, 17α-ethinylestradiol, 17β-estradiol, ibuprofen, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, and valproic acid. In the treated effluents, carbamazepine was detected most frequently (100%; concentration range: 22–551 ng/L), followed by atenolol (94%; ND — 14,200 ng/L), trimethoprim (83%; ND — 37,000 ng/L), ibuprofen (61%; ND — 14,600 ng/L), and caffeine (49%; ND — 37,200 ng/L), while estrone was detected once (56 ng/L). In the reservoir keypoint samples, only ibuprofen (2.5%; ND — 932 ng/L) and caffeine (2.9%; ND — 177 ng/L) were detected. The other analytes were not detected in any sample. It is expected that investigation of other wastewater treatment plants in the New York City Watershed would show that their effluents are also a potential source of pharmaceuticals, but that these pharmaceuticals are unlikely to be detected in the Watershed's surface waters.