Antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in a characteristic urban stream of Argentina.

ELORRIAGA, Y.; MARINO, D.J.; RONCO, A.E.; CARRIQUIRIBORDE, P.

Nashville

Congreso; SETAC North America 34th Annual Meeting; 2013

Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry

Pharmaceuticals are emerging pollutants that continuously are entering the aquatic environments via domestic discharges. In the present study the occurrence and concentration levels of commonly used antibiotics (cephalexin, clarithromycin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, chloramphenicol) and NSAIDs (ibuprofen, diclofenac) were assessed in the ?El Gato?, a typical urban stream of the ?Gran La Plata? area (Buenos Aires, Argentina) receiving several storm water, wastewater and industrial discharges. Nine sampling points were selected along the whole water course. The pharmaceuticals were analyzed in the dissolved fraction of the surface water samples by HPLC/MS/MS after SPE extraction. The presence of the studied pharmaceuticals was detected in all sampling sites. Higher concentrations were found in sites closer to wastewater discharges. Within the NSAIDs, ibuprofen was the most frequently found and at highest concentrations (0.6 - 9.7 ìg/L), while diclofenac was frequently detected and at lower levels of concentration (N.D - 0.2 ìg/L). The prevalence of antibiotics was in the following order: cephalexin (0.54 ? 6.3 ìg/L) > clarithromycin (0.05 - 0.79 ìg/L) > levofloxacin (N.D - 0.49 ìg/L) > ciprofloxacin (N.D - 0.39 ìg/L) > chloranphenicol (N.D). Although at low levels, the ubiquous presence in surface water samples of a diverse group of antibiotics and NSAIDs alerts on the potential aquatic ecological risk of pharmaceuticals mixtures in urban streams of Argentina.