Presence of Pharmaceuticals and Hormones in Waters from Sewage Treatment Plants

This paper describes the presence of 33 pharmaceuticals and hormones in waters from two sewage treatment plants (STPs) situated in Catalonia, in northeastern Spain. The target compounds were one psychoactive stimulant, one antiepileptic, four analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, one lipid regulators, two anti-ulcer agents, nine antibiotics (sulfonamides and macrolides), two beta-blockers, two metabolites, and 11 hormones (free and conjugates). The determination was performed using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry after enrichment by solid-phase extraction with Oasis HLB sorbent. Most of the pharmaceuticals were found in both influent and effluent samples from the two STPs. The most frequently detected were caffeine, acetaminophen, carbamazepine, diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, sulfamethoxazole, sulfapyridine, sulfathiazole, ranitidine, omeprazole, estrone 3-sulfate, and estradiol 17-glucuronide. Specifically, the highest concentrations found in influents were 19,850 ng/L (acetaminophen), 9,945 ng/L (caffeine), 4,215 ng/L (ibuprofen), 5,695 ng/L (sulfamethoxazole), and 5,140 ng/L (sulfathiazole). Most of the pharmaceuticals present in influent waters were found in effluents at lower concentrations. The highest concentrations in effluents were 970 ng/L (caffeine), 670 ng/L (sulfamethoxazole), 510 ng/L (bezafibrate), and 1,032 ng/L (diclofenac).