Natural and Built Environments Research Centre, School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia.
Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2019 Nov;26(33):33816-33826. doi: 10.1007/s11356-018-2464-6. Epub 2018 Jun 9.
The occurrence and fate of five drugs of abuse in raw influent and treated effluent wastewater were investigated over a period of 1 year in the Adelaide region of South Australia. Four wastewater treatment plants were chosen for this study and monitored for five drugs which included cocaine in the form of its metabolite benzoylecgonine (BE), methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and two opioids (codeine and morphine) during the period April 2016 to February 2017. Alongside concentrations in raw sewage, the levels of drugs in the treated effluent were assessed and removal efficiencies were calculated. Drug concentrations were measured by mixed-mode solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Drug concentrations detected in the raw wastewater ranged from 7 to 6510 ng/L and < LOD to 4264 ng/L in treated effluent samples. Drug removal rates varied seasonally and spatially. The mass loads of drugs discharged into the environment were in descending order: codeine > methamphetamine > morphine > MDMA > BE. Results showed that all the targeted drugs were on average incompletely removed by wastewater treatment, with removal performance highest for morphine (94%) and lowest for MDMA (58%). A screening-level environmental risk assessment was subsequently performed for the drugs based on effluent wastewater concentrations. Based on calculated risk quotients, overall environmental risk for these compounds appears low, with codeine and methamphetamine likely to pose the greatest potential risk to receiving environments. Given the recognised limitations of current ecotoxicological models and risk assessment methods for these and other pharmaceutical drugs, the potential for environmental impacts associated with the continuous discharge of these compounds in wastewater effluents should not be overlooked.
在南澳大利亚阿德莱德地区，对 1 年内 4 家污水处理厂进水和出水废水中的 5 种滥用药物的出现和归宿进行了研究。选择这 4 家污水处理厂，在 2016 年 4 月至 2017 年 2 月期间监测 5 种药物，包括可卡因（以其代谢物苯甲酰爱康宁（BE）的形式）、甲基苯丙胺、3,4-亚甲二氧基甲基苯丙胺（MDMA）和两种阿片类药物（可待因和吗啡）。除了原始污水中的浓度外，还评估了处理后废水中的药物水平，并计算了去除效率。药物浓度通过混合模式固相萃取和液相色谱与四极杆质谱仪联用进行测量。在原始废水中检测到的药物浓度范围为 7 至 6510ng/L 和 <LOD 至 4264ng/L。药物去除率随季节和空间而变化。排入环境的药物质量负荷按降序排列：可待因>甲基苯丙胺>吗啡>MDMA>BE。结果表明，所有目标药物在平均情况下都不能被污水处理完全去除，吗啡的去除性能最高（94%），MDMA 的去除性能最低（58%）。随后根据废水浓度对这些药物进行了基于筛选水平的环境风险评估。根据计算的风险商数，这些化合物的整体环境风险似乎较低，其中可待因和甲基苯丙胺可能对受纳环境构成最大的潜在风险。鉴于当前用于这些和其他药物的生态毒理学模型和风险评估方法存在的局限性，不应忽视这些化合物在废水排放中持续排放所带来的环境影响。
