Occurrence of Emerging Contaminants in Brazilian Drinking Waters: A Sewage-To-Tap Issue

The goal of this work was to investigate the occurrence of emerging contaminants in drinking water of the city of Campinas, Brazil. Tap water samples were analyzed using SPE-GC-MS for 11 contaminants of recent environmental concern. Six emerging contaminants (stigmasterol, cholesterol, bisphenol A, caffeine, estrone, and 17 beta-estradiol) were found in the samples. The latter two were detected only during the dry season, with concentrations below quantification limits. Stigmasterol showed the highest average concentration (0.34 +/- 0.13 A mu g L-1), followed by cholesterol (0.27 A +/- 0.07 A mu g L-1), caffeine (0.22 A +/- 0.06 A mu g L-1), and bisphenol A (0.16 A +/- 0.03 A mu g L-1). In Campinas, where surface drinking water supplies receive large amounts of raw sewage inputs, the emerging contaminants levels in drinking waters were higher than median values compiled for drinking and finished water samples around the world.