Risk assessment for uptake and accumulation of pharmaceuticals by baby leaf lettuce irrigated with reclaimed water under commercial agricultural activities

The use of reclaimed water to irrigate agricultural crops has increased in recent years as a consequence of water shortage constituting a potential risk for human health. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact on the soil-plant system and determining the accumulation of carbamazepine (CBZ), diclofenac (DCF), ketoprofen (KTP) and naproxen (NPX) in the edible part of lettuce under commonly used agricultural practices in commercial production. For this purpose, red oak baby lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) was irrigated with reclaimed water fortified with different concentrations of pharmaceuticals. The study was carried out in two different scenarios: soil and tray. The tray experiments were conducted with substrate and took place at three different seasons of the year. Lettuce tissue sampled from these experiments were analysed 3 times during the lettuce growing cycle (first, second and third harvest). The practices of first harvest regrowth were also evaluated. For all experiments, CBZ showed the highest accumulation in lettuce leaves of the pharmaceuticals tested, showing a correlation between irrigation exposure time and pharmaceutical uptake. Unexpectedly, DCF was the compound with the highest uptake levels after regrowth practices. Results suggested that pharmaceuticals uptake could be directly associated with the irrigation method and possible accumulation in soil and substrates, while concentration of pharmaceuticals in substrates were 10 times higher. Based on the concentration values detected in lettuce leaves, the risk assessment suggests that no compounds imply any risk to human health, except CBZ for those on vegetarian diets in the tray scenario. Although commercial agricultural practices are usually not considered with regards to risk reduction, in this experiment we demonstrated that climatic conditions are a key factor in pharmaceuticals uptake and different agricultural practices (soil cropping and drip irrigation) can limit the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in crops.

Automated summary

The study aimed to evaluate the impact of using reclaimed water for irrigation on the soil-plant system, with CBZ showing the highest accumulation in lettuce leaves. Climatic conditions were found to be a key factor influencing pharmaceutical uptake, and different agricultural practices can limit the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in crops.