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Behavior of sartans (antihypertensive drugs) in wastewater treatment plants, their occurrence and risk for the aquatic environment

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Abstract

Pharmaceuticals and other anthropogenic trace contaminants reach wastewaters and are often not satisfactorily eliminated in sewage treatment plants. These contaminants and/or their degradation products may reach surface waters, thus influencing aquatic life. In this study, the behavior of five different antihypertonic pharmaceuticals from the sartan group (candesartan, eprosartan, irbesartan, olmesartan and valsartan) is investigated in lab-scale sewage plants. The elimination of the substances with related structures varied broadly from 17 % for olmesartan up to 96 % for valsartan. Monitoring data for these drugs in wastewater effluents of six different sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Bavaria, and at eight rivers, showed median concentrations for, e.g. valsartan of 1.1 and 0.13 μg L−1, respectively. Predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) were calculated and are mostly consistent with the measured environmental concentrations (MEC). The selected sartans and the mixture of the five sartans showed no ecotoxic effects on aquatic organisms in relevant concentrations. Nevertheless, the occurrence of pharmaceuticals in the environment should be reduced to minimize the risk of their distribution in surface waters, ground waters and bank filtrates used for drinking water.

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Acknowledgments

The authors want to acknowledge S. Bertsch, F. Rehberger and N. Groeger for their skilful technical assistance and D. Cardin for his linguistic support. This work was financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research with the funding code: 02WRS1273.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bavarian Environment Agency, Demollstr. 31, 82407, Wielenbach, Germany

    Anne Bayer & Marion Letzel

  2. Bavarian Environment Agency, Bürgermeister-Ulrich-Str. 160, 86179, Augsburg, Germany

    Robert Asner, Walter Schüssler, Willi Kopf, Klaus Weiß & Manfred Sengl

Authors
  1. Anne Bayer
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  2. Robert Asner
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  3. Walter Schüssler
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  4. Willi Kopf
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  5. Klaus Weiß
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  6. Manfred Sengl
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  7. Marion Letzel
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Correspondence to Marion Letzel.

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Responsible editor: Hongwen Sun

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Bayer, A., Asner, R., Schüssler, W. et al. Behavior of sartans (antihypertensive drugs) in wastewater treatment plants, their occurrence and risk for the aquatic environment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 10830–10839 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3060-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3060-z

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