Pharmaceutical and personal care product compounds released from wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) may undergo direct and/or indirect photodegradation when they are transported downstream in river systems. Photodegradation of these compounds may be influenced by compositional differences in organic matter in rivers, particularly the mixture of natural and effluent organic matter inputs. This work explores the degradation of sulfamethoxazole (direct and triplet dissolved organic matter pathways) and caffeine (hydroxyl radical pathways) in natural and effluent-impacted river waters receiving varied amounts of treated wastewater: Hockanum R., CT (~20 % effluent flow), E. Fork Little Miami R., OH - (~10 %), and Pomperaug R., CT - (6 %). Sulfamethoxazole was removed primarily by direct photodegradation (61-100%) with no significant difference between whole water samples from above and below the WWTP discharges. Caffeine was removed primarily by reaction with hydroxyl radicals (56-74%), also with no difference between samples from above and below the WWTP discharges. These findings indicate that under typical effluent discharge scenarios (< 20%) contributions of effluent organic matter have little influence on compound degradation, compared to natural organic matter.

Photochemical degrdation of wastewater derived pollutants in natural and effluent impacted river waters

248th National Meeting (2014)

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