Gone with the flow - Assessment of personal care products in Portuguese rivers

Although there are several works in the literature that study the presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in surface waters, the vast majority focus their attention on pharmaceuticals and little information is found about personal care products (PCPs). Therefore, this study focused, for the first time, on the monitoring of five classes of PCPs - fragrance allergens, synthetic musks, phthalates, antioxidants, and ultraviolet-filters-in the surface water of four small-size typically pollution-impacted Portuguese rivers (Ave, Leca, Antua tilde and Ce acute accent rtima). A solid-phase microextraction (SPME) followed by gas chromatography -tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) protocol was employed to analyse surface water samples collected in two seasonal campaigns -summer and winter (34 samples per season). A total of 22 out of 37 target PCPs were detected concomitantly at least once in one sampling point, being the most frequently detected alpha-isomethyl ionone, galaxolide, tonalide and cashmeran. The highest concentrations were confirmed for diethylhexyl phthalate (610.6 ng L-1), galaxolide (379.2 ng L-1), geraniol (290.9 ng L-1), linalool (271.2 ng L-1), benzophenone-3 (254.1 ng L-1) and citronellol (200.2 ng L-1). Leca River, traversing the more densely urban and industrialized area, had the highest levels of contaminants, which were also found in the sampling points located downstream of wastewater treatment plants discharge points. In general, higher levels were detected in summer, when the river flows are lower. Hazard quotients were determined and octocrylene, tonalide, and geraniol presented values above 1 in some sampling sites, which may indicate an ecotoxicological risk to the aquatic environment. The results presented suggest that these three PCPs should be included as priority pollutants in environmental monitoring schemes in surface waters, due to their high detection, persistence, and potential adverse effects.

Automated summary

This study focused on the presence of personal care products (PCPs) in surface waters, specifically in four Portuguese rivers. Five classes of PCPs were monitored and several substances were detected at high concentrations, especially downstream of wastewater treatment plants discharge points.