The occurrence of emerging contaminants in surface waters is an area of growing environmental concern. Treated wastewater effluent is a major source of emerging contaminants in surface waters, particularly pharmaceutical compounds from human use.  The objectives of this research are to determine the effect tertiary treatment has on the concentration of antidepressant pharmaceuticals in wastewater, and to determine the identity of potential chlorinated byproducts.  Antidepressant loads were studied due to these compounds widespread use in the general public, frequent detection in wastewater effluent, and the high potency. The focus of the study is the 230 MGD Calumet Water Reclamation Plant in Chicago, which was upgraded in the past year to incorporate tertiary chlorination treatment for disinfection.  Bench studies are being conducted to systematically measure the reactions of hypochlorite with: <i>i</i>) nine anti-depressants and their active metabolites (fluoxetine, norfluoxetine, sertraline, norsertraline, venlafaxine, citalopram, bupropion, duloxetine, and paroxetine) and <i>ii</i>) other drugs including carbamazepine and metformin. Both HPLC-UV (DAD) and LC-MS are used to measure the kinetics and product species, respectively.

Investigation of anti-depressant load reduction in wastewater treatment plant effluent by hypochlorite disinfection

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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