Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on pharmaceuticals in wastewater treated for beneficial reuse: Two case studies in central Pennsylvania.

ABSTRACT: During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater surveillance was leveraged as a powerful tool for monitoring community-scale health. Further, the well-known persistence of some pharmaceuticals through wastewater treatment plants spurred concerns that increased usage of pharmaceuticals during the pandemic would increase the concentrations in wastewater treatment plant effluent. We collected weekly influent and effluent samples from May 2020 through May 2021 from two wastewater treatment plants in central Pennsylvania, the Penn State Water Reclamation Facility and the University Area Joint Authority, that provide effluent for beneficial reuse, including for irrigation. Samples were analyzed for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (influent only), two over-the-counter medicines (acetamin

SUBMITTER: Hayden KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9538887 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature