Source Apportionment, Hydrodynamic Influence, and Environmental Stress of Pharmaceuticals in a Microtidal Estuary with Multiple Outlets in South China.

ABSTRACT: Pharmaceutical residues in the environment are of great concern as ubiquitous emerging contaminants. This study investigated the presence of 40 pharmaceuticals in water and sediment of the Pearl River Estuary (PRE) in the wet season of 2020. Among psychiatric drugs, only diazepam was found in water samples while six of them were detected in the sediment. The Σantibiotics levels ranged from 6.18 to 35.9 ng/L and 2.63 to 140 ng/g dry weight in water and sediment samples, respectively. Fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines were found well settling in the outlet sediment, while sulfonamides could be released from disturbed sediment under stronger tidal wash-out conditions. After entering the marine waters, pharmaceuticals tended to deposit at the PRE mouth by the influence of the plume bulge and

SUBMITTER: Wu R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9387093 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature