Occurrence and ecological risk of pharmaceuticals in river surface water of Bangladesh

Pharmaceutical contamination in the aquatic environment is a global issue that affects aquatic animals, microorganisms and human health. The occurrence and preliminary ecological risk of 12 (11 antibiotics and 1 antiepileptic drug) pharmaceuticals were investigated for the first time in the surface water of the old Brahmaputra River, where open-water-fed aquaculture activities are being practiced in Bangladesh. The pharmaceuticals were quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), operated with positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) and a multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. Nine pharmaceuticals were detected in the river surface water, whereas three were below the limit of detection (LOD). Metronidazole was detected in all the samples with concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 13.51 ng L-1 Trimethoprim had the second highest frequency of detection (95%) with the highest concentration (17.20 ng L-1). The ranges of concentration and detection frequency of sulfonamides and macrolides were < LOD-11.35 and < LOD-16.68 ng L-1 ; 35-70 and 60-85%, respectively, whereas carbamazepine was in the range of < LOD-8.80 ng L-1 and had a detection frequency of 65%. The concentrations of sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, erythromycin-H2O and tylosin were distinctly higher in the fed aquaculture areas. The principal component analysis confirmed that fed aquaculture activities contributed most of the pharmaceutical contamination in the river surface water. Hospitals, nursing homes, sewage wastewater or surface runoff from the surrounding areas might all contribute to the presence of metronidazole and carbamazepine. The preliminary ecological risk assessment revealed that sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin-H2O and tylosin showed medium risk, and carbamazepine displayed low risk to sensitive aquatic organisms for maximum measured concentrations. Thus, this study suggests that pharmaceutical contamination in different rivers and seasons needs to be quantified, and ecological as well as human health risks need to be assessed in Bangladesh.