Presence and environmental hazard of psychoactive pharmaceutical compounds in coastal waters and biota from North Western Spain.

VALCÁRCEL, Y.; RODRÍGUEZ-MOZAZ, S.; POSTIGO, C.; FERNÁNDEZ-RUBIO, J.; VALDÉS M.E.; BARCELÓ, D.; LÓPEZ DE ALDA, M.; HUERTA, B.; RODRÍGUEZ-GIL, J.L.; MASTROIANNI, N.

Roma

Congreso; SETAC Europe 28th Annual Meeting; 2018

SETAC EUROPE

Historically, coastal and transition waters have preferentially been usedfor human settlement, leading to a continuous input of wastewatereffluents into these habitats. Water quality monitoring of these systems,with the goal of improving their protection under the water frameworkdirective is highly needed. The number of studies characterizing thepresence of psychoactive pharmaceuticals (PAs) in coastal waters andmarine biota in Spain is particularly limited. Our work represents thefirst attempt at monitoring these compounds in the Rias Baixas area(North Western Spain). This area was chosen as the location for thisstudy due to its economic and ecological importance as a national andglobal leader in shellfish (especially mussels) production. In this study,the presence of 16 PAs (benzodiazepines and anxiolytics) was studied insamples of sea water and tissue from 7 economically valuable andhighly consumed marine species. Samples were collected from 22 sitesalong the three main Rias Baixas. Fourteen out of the 16 assessedsubstances were detected in the water samples with venlafaxine (64%)and citalopram (41%) showing the highest detection frequencies. Thehighest concentrations in water were also measured for venlafaxine (291ng/L), followed by lorazepam (95.90 ng/L) and citalopram (92.50 ng/L).Only 3 PAs (alprazolam, citalopram and venlafaxine) were present inthe collected biota samples (razor clam, clam and octopus) inconcentrations up to 14 ng/g d.w. (citalopram), 3 ng/g d.w. (venlafaxine)and 0.31 ng /g d.w. (alprazolam). Hazard quotients (HQ), calculatedfrom the measured concentrations in water and available chronic aquatictoxicity data resulted in values higher than 1 (indicating elevated hazardand possible risk) for venlafaxine, citalopram, and sertraline. Thevenlafaxine concentrations resulted in the largest HQ values (up to 128).A human health risk assessment based on the measured tissueconcentrations is underway. Our results confirm the presence of PAs incoastal waters of the Rias Baixas area in concentrations potentially ableto cause chronic effects in exposed organisms, as well as the presence ofthese compounds in biota inhabiting the area. Based on the resultsobtained further monitoring of venlafaxine and citalopram in coastalwaters is recommended.