Emerging pollutants in sewage, surface and drinking water in Galicia (NW Spain)
2012
Rodil, Rosario | Quintana, José Benito | Concha-Graña, Estefanía | López-Mahía, Purificación | Muniategui-Lorenzo, Soledad | Prada-Rodríguez, Darío
A monitoring programme was carried out on wastewater, surface and drinking water on the NW area of Spain during the four seasons of a year period (November 2007–September 2008). This study covered a series of emerging pollutants of different classes, including pharmaceuticals, neutral and acidic organophosphorus flame retardant/plasticizers (OPs), triclosan, phenoxy-herbicides, insect repellents and UV filters. From the total set of 53 compounds, 19 were found in raw wastewater with median concentrations higher than 0.1μgL⁻¹. Among them, salicylic acid, ibuprofen and the UV filter benzophenone-4 (BP-4) were the most concentrated, exceeding the 1μgL⁻¹ median value. Subsequently, 11 of these contaminants are not efficiently enough removed in the small WWTPs tested and their median concentrations in effluents still surpassed the 0.1μgL⁻¹, so that they can spread through surface water. These chemicals are the pharmaceuticals naproxen, diclofenac and atenolol; the OPs tri(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tri(chloropropyl) phosphate (TCPP), tri-n-butyl phosphate (TnBP), diphenyl phosphate (DPhP) and diethylhexyl phosphate (DEHP); and the sulphonate UV filters BP-4 and 2-phenylbenzimidazole-5-sulphonic acid (PBSA). These OPs were then the dominant emerging pollutants occurring in surface and drinking water, where they are detected in the 20–200ngL⁻¹ range. Pharmaceuticals and UV filters are typically below the 10ngL⁻¹ level. Finally, herbicides were only detected in the last sampling campaign under the 100ngL⁻¹ drinking water European Union limit.
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