Removal efficiencies and environmental risk assessment of selected pharmaceuticals and metabolites at a wastewater treatment plant in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.

ABSTRACT: This research study critically evaluates the concentrations of selected pharmaceuticals found within wastewater and at various stages within a selected wastewater treatment plant. The study further investigates the effects of seasonal variation, between wet and dry months, on the removal of target analytes. To the best of the authors' knowledge, ivermectin in wastewater has not been investigated in South Africa. The methodology used was extraction of the wastewater samples using solid phase extraction with Oasis HLB cartridges followed by analysis on a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometer. As expected, analyte concentrations were observed to decrease as wastewater went through the treatment process with the greatest reduction in concentrations observed between secondary effluent and mat

SUBMITTER: Inarmal N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11671546 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature