Pharmaceuticals as priority water contaminants

Pharmaceuticals and their metabolites can reach water bodies through sewage systems, industrial discharges, effluents from sewage treatment plants (STPs), aquaculture, and livestock farming. Pharmaceuticals include a hundred substances which are very different as regards chemical-physical properties and environmental behavior, although they may have strong biochemical activities. At present, pharmaceuticals can reach water concentrations of ng L-1 to μg L-1 and some are considered ubiquitous. Nevertheless, their presence in the aquatic environment and impact on aquatic biota and on human health have not yet been studied adequately. Experimental evidence indicates that pharmaceuticals may cause harmful effects, such as morphological, metabolic and sex alterations on aquatic species, induction of antibiotic resistance in aquatic pathogenic microorganisms, and disruption of biodegradation activities in STPs. Risk assessment studies and evaluations are in progress. Yet, the available scientific data are consistent with the introduction of some pharmaceutical indicators in extensive water monitoring to better define their actual impact on aquatic organisms and humans. Under these perspectives, the inclusion of emerging pharmaceuticals in the revision of EU List of Priority Substances under the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC should be implemented as well as the definition of respective environmental quality standards. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.