Quantification of sewer exfiltration using the anti-epileptic drug carbamazepine as marker species for wastewater

The anti-epileptic drug carbamazepine was used as marker species in wastewater to identify and quantify sewer exfiltration. In several studies carbarnazepine turned out to be hardly removed in wastewater treatment and not or just slightly attenuated during bank infiltration. Concentrations in wastewater are generally 1000 times higher than the limit of quantification. In contrast to many other marker species a ''young" drug as carbamazepine is discharged to the environment only by wastewater. The results from this study carried out in Linz, Austria indicate an average exfiltration rate, expressed as percentage of the dry weather flow that is lost on the city-wide scale, of 1%. This rate is lower than sewage losses reported in most other studies which attempted to quantify exfiltration on the basis of groundwater pollution. However, it was also possible to identify one area with significant higher sewage losses.