HR: 0830h
AN: H21D-0887    [PDF]
TI: Pharmaceuticals as Groundwater Tracers - Applications and Limitations
AU: * Scheytt, T J
EM: traugott.scheytt@tu-berlin.de
AF: Technical University Berlin, Inst. of Applied Geosciences Ackerstr. 71-76, Berlin, 13355 Germany
AU: Mersmann, P
EM: petra.mersmann@tu-berlin.de
AF: Technical University Berlin, Inst. of Applied Geosciences Ackerstr. 71-76, Berlin, 13355 Germany
AU: Heberer, T
EM: thomas.heberer@tu-berlin.de
AF: Technical University Berlin, Institute of Food Chemistry Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, Berlin, 13355 Germany
AB: Pharmaceutically active substances and metabolites are found at concentrations up to the microgram/L-level in groundwater samples from the Berlin (Germany) area and from several other places world wide. Among the compounds detected in groundwater are clofibric acid, propyphenazone, diclofenac, ibuprofen, and carbamazepine. Clofibric acid, the active metabolite of clofibrate and etofibrate (blood lipid regulators) is detected in groundwater at maximum concentrations of 7300 ng/L. Among the most important input paths of drugs are excretion and disposal into the sewage system. Groundwater contamination is likely to be due to leaky sewage systems, influent streams, bank filtration, and irrigation with effluent water from sewage treatment plants. There are no known natural sources of the above mentioned pharmaceuticals. The use of pharmaceuticals as tracers may include: (a) Quantification of infiltration from underground septic tanks (b) Detection of leaky sewage systems / leaky sewage pipes (c) Estimation of the effectiveness of sewage treatment plants (d) Identification of transport pathways of other organic compounds (e) Quantification of surface water / groundwater interaction (f) Characterization of the biodegradation potential. The use of pharmaceuticals as tracers is limited by variations in input. These variations depend on the amount of drugs prescribed and used in the study area, the social structure of the community, the amount of hospital discharge, and temporal concentration variations. Furthermore, the analysis of trace amounts of pharmaceuticals is sophisticated and expensive and may therefore limit the applicability of pharmaceuticals as tracers. Finally, the transport and degradation behavior of pharmaceuticals is not fully understood. Preliminary experiments in the laboratory were conducted using sediment material and groundwater from the Berlin area to evaluate the transport and sorption behavior of selected drugs. Results of the column experiments show that clofibric acid exhibits no degradation and almost no retardation (Rf = 1.1) whereas ibuprofen is biodegraded ($>$ 90 %) under aerobic conditions. Carbamazepine shows no degradation in the soil column experiments but significant retardation under the prevailing conditions. We conclude that clofibric acid will show the transport behavior of a conservative tracer, whereas ibuprofen may be used to characterize the biodegradation potential in the aerobic zone.
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
DE: 1832 Groundwater transport
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting