Occurrence and behavior of selected pharmaceuticals during riverbank filtration in The Republic of Serbia

The objectives of the research are to determine the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in surface water and groundwater in the Republic of Serbia and to identify significant effects of river-water purification through riverbank filtration, concerning oxic conditions and hydrogeological conditions of alluvial aquifers in Serbia. Between 2009 and 2015, a total of 19 studied pharmaceuticals and metabolites were analyzed in 184 samples, 10 were detected in surface water, and 8 in groundwater. Carbamazepine and metamizole metabolites N-acetyl-4-amino-antipyrine (4-AAA) and N-formyl-4-amino-antipyrine (4-FAA) have the highest frequency of occurrence in surface water (57.3–68.8 %) and in groundwater (19.5–43.9 %), respectively. Highest detected concentrations were for 4-AAA (520 ng/L) and 4-FAA (248 ng/L) in surface water as well as in groundwater (4-AAA 128 ng/L and 4-FAA 150 ng/L). Results showed that riverbank filtration sites with different hydrogeological and oxic conditions could significantly remove investigated pharmaceuticals. Percentage of removal during riverbank filtration was determined for carbamazepine (65.4 %), trimethoprim (100 %), 4-AAA (91.2 %), and 4-FAA (70 %) for all investigated locations. Based on the available data for three specific locations (Danube River alluvion, Sava River alluvion, and Velika Morava River alluvion), results showed that besides oxic conditions, residence time of groundwater in alluvial aquifer and ratio of infiltrated water from river to the well play very important role in the quality of groundwater. These results are extremely important for better understanding of self-purification potential of alluvial aquifers and protection from potential impacts of anthropogenic pollution to the groundwater sources in the Republic of Serbia.