Presencia y eliminación de compuestos farmacéuticos en sistemas de depuración natural en islas de la Macaronesia

Abstract

Pharmaceutical residues are currently a serious environmental problem due to their harmful eff ects and the continuous entry of these wastes into the environment. These eff ects are even more harmful in island ecosystems such as the islands of Macaronesia, so it is of vital importance to control their presence and disposal in a focal point of contamination by emerging compounds such as wastewater treatment plants. Specifi cally, this study has evaluated the presence and elimination of 11 pharmaceutical compounds with diff erent therapeutic applications in natural sewage treatment sys tems in the Canary Islands and Cape Verde. Most of the compounds were detected at concentrations in the range of ng·L-1 to μg·L-1. Likewise, the eliminations produced during the diff erent natural treatments were evaluated, proving that in many cases high elimi nation rates were achieved, higher than 90% in some cases for com pounds belonging to the families of stimulants and non-steroidal anti-infl ammatory drugs. However, other compounds such as car bamazepine showed a marked recalcitrant behaviour. Nevertheless, after the purifi cation process, effl uents with a lower environmental risk were obtained compared to the corresponding influents.