Detection of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in Surface Water of Urban, Urbanizing and Rural sub watersheds of Middle Tennessee
Abstract
Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) have become important chemicals of emerging concern in surface water resources. On a national and regional scale, pharmaceutical drugs detected in surface water and sewage treatment effluents included steroids, prescription and over the counter drugs including antibiotics, anti-depressants and anti-inflammatory drugs. A study to monitor the incidence of pharmaceuticals in three Middle Tennessee Rivers was initiated in the summer and fall of 2014 and winter of 2015. The objectives were 1) To determine the incidence of pharmaceuticals in surface water of Middle Tennessee subwatersheds; 2) To determine the incidence of personal care products in surface water of Middle Tenneessee subwatersheds; 3) Identify the most frequently detected pharmaceuticals and personal care products in surface water of Middle Tennessee subwatersheds. Water samples were collected from Cumberland River, Collins River and East Fork Stones River. These rivers represented surface water drained by urban and rural watersheds. Water samples were collected from the rivers in seven consecutive weeks per season. The water samples were analyzed for the presence of pharmaceutical and personal care compounds using GC-MS. The CAS number and subsequent use or descriptions of the chemical compounds were identified. During sampling, water quality parameters of interest were collected in-situ with a multi-parameter sonde. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products were detected in all the rivers monitored. While the scope of the thesis did not include delineating the actual concentrations of the pharmaceuticals and personal care products, their concentrations in the surface water were in the parts per billion (ng/L) to parts per million (µg/L) ranges. The pharmaceutical drugs detected included antibiotics, steroid derivatives, drugs used for treatment of alcoholism, decaffeinate coffee and tea, anti-inflammatory compounds, type II diabetic control drug, antifungal drug, insect repellant and pheromones. The personal care products included flavor and fragrance agents, skin conditioning agents, surfactant in cosmetics, shampoos, moisturizer, household products, antiperspirant and deodorants.
Subject Area
Environmental Health|Agriculture|Environmental science
Recommended Citation
Ravneet Kaur,
"Detection of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in Surface Water of Urban, Urbanizing and Rural sub watersheds of Middle Tennessee"
(2016).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI10120842.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI10120842