Interest in the monitoring and assessment of pharmaceuticals in the environment has expanded substantially following the publication of Kolpin and others (2002). Many analytical methods, containing increasing numbers of pharmaceuticals at ever lower reporting limits, have been employed for measuring these and other contaminants of emerging concern (CECs).  We have developed a new method that determines over 200 pharmaceuticals and other CECs, including degradates, which complements and expands upon the current 109-compound USGS approved method for pharmaceuticals (Furlong and others, 2014). The new method combines direct aqueous injection high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, using separate positive and negative electrospray ionization analyses to identify and quantify the suite of CECs. Selected-reaction monitoring of relevant ions provides method reporting levels down to tens of nanograms per liter (ng/L). This method was applied to separately vialed aliquots of wastewater and surface water samples also analyzed by the 109-compound method. Using the new method, fourteen CECs that ionized under negative ionization conditions were identified in wastewater influent samples, including artificial sweeteners, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, statins, diuretics, and antimicrobials, at median concentrations ranging from 18,500 (sucralose) to 7.9 ng/L (celexocib). Under positive ionization conditions, forty CECs were identified in the same wastewater influent samples, encompassing a range of pharmaceutical classes and present at median concentrations ranging from 6,500 (benzotriazole) to 4.1 ng/L (meloxicam). Fewer compounds, typically at equivalent or lower concentrations, were observed in wastewater effluent and surface water samples and reflect the effects of treatment, degradation, and, in the case of surface water, dilution. Some compounds, including sucralose, persist at high concentrations in surface water.

Expanding our understanding of pharmaceutical exposures in aquatic environments: Development of a new pharmaceutical method and its application to wastewater and surface water samples

2019 Spring National Meeting

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