Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, 1 Engineering Drive 2, Singapore 117576, Singapore.
Water Res. 2014 Jan 1;48:443-56. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2013.09.053. Epub 2013 Oct 10.
There is no quantitative data on the occurrence of artificial sweeteners in the aquatic environment in Southeast Asian countries, particularly no information on their suitability as indicators of raw wastewater contamination on surface water and groundwater. This study provided the first quantitative information on the occurrence of artificial sweeteners in raw wastewater, surface water and groundwater in the urban catchment area in Singapore. Acesulfame, cyclamate, saccharin, and sucralose were ubiquitous in raw wastewater samples at concentrations in the range of ng/L-μg/L, while other sweeteners were not found or found only in a few of the raw wastewater samples. Residential and commercial effluents were demonstrated to be the two main sources of artificial sweeteners entering the municipal sewer systems. Relatively higher concentrations of the detected sweeteners were frequently found in surface waters at the sampling sites located in the residential/commercial areas. No significant difference in the concentrations of the detected sweeteners in surface water or groundwater was noted between wet and dry weather conditions (unpaired T-test, p> 0.05). Relatively higher concentrations and detection frequencies of acesulfame, cyclamate and saccharin in surface water samples were observed at the potentially impacted sampling sites, while these sweeteners were absent in most of the background surface water samples. Similarly, acesulfame, cyclamate, and saccharin were found in most groundwater samples at the monitoring well (GW6), which is located close to known leaking sewer segment; whereas these were absent in the background monitoring well, which is located in the catchment with no known wastewater sources. Taken together, the results suggest that acesulfame, cyclamate, and saccharin can be used as potential indicators of raw wastewater contamination in surface water and groundwater.
在东南亚国家的水生环境中，人工甜味剂的发生情况没有定量数据，特别是关于它们是否适合作为地表水和地下水原生污水污染指示物的信息。本研究首次提供了新加坡城市集水区原生污水、地表水和地下水中人工甜味剂发生情况的定量信息。乙酰磺胺酸钾、环己烷氨基磺酸钠、糖精和三氯蔗糖在 ng/L-μg/L 浓度范围内普遍存在于原生污水样品中，而其他甜味剂则未检出或仅在少数原生污水样品中检出。生活污水和商业污水被证明是进入城市污水系统的人工甜味剂的两个主要来源。在所选择的位于住宅/商业区的采样点，检测到的甜味剂在地表水中的浓度相对较高。在干湿天气条件下，未观察到地表水中和地下水中检测到的甜味剂浓度有显著差异（非配对 T 检验，p>0.05）。在受潜在影响的采样点，地表水中检测到的乙酰磺胺酸钾、环己烷氨基磺酸钠和糖精浓度和检测频率相对较高，而在大多数背景地表水样品中则未检出这些甜味剂。同样，在靠近已知泄漏污水管段的监测井（GW6）中，大多数地下水样品中都检测到了乙酰磺胺酸钾、环己烷氨基磺酸钠和糖精，而在没有已知污水来源的集水区的背景监测井中则未检出这些甜味剂。总的来说，这些结果表明，乙酰磺胺酸钾、环己烷氨基磺酸钠和糖精可以作为地表水和地下水中原生污水污染的潜在指示物。
