PH07 Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology of Chiral Pollutants
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Thursday
(PH068) Environmental Occurrence and Fate of Pharmaceuticals in the Aquatic Ecosystem of Lac la Biche, Alberta.
MacLeod, S1, Wong, C1, 1 University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
ABSTRACT- The occurrence, sources, and environmental fate of chiral and achiral pharmaceuticals were determined in the watershed of Lac la Biche, Alberta, as part of an effort to establish a mass balance of selected drugs in this aquatic ecosystem. Human use pharmaceuticals are of increasing ecological concern, because they are prescribed and sold in high quantities, yet little is known about their environmental fate and ecotoxicology. Analytical methods have only recently been able to detect environmentally relevant concentrations of drugs, thus limited occurrence data are available. Recent research has suggested that most sewage treatment processes do not remove pharmaceuticals efficiently, thus drugs have been found in natural waters. In this study, we assess the occurrence and fate, in Lac la Biche, of achiral drugs which have been found in other aquatic ecosystems, including acetaminophen and carbamazepine, as well as the stereoisomers of fluoxetine and ibuprofen. In addition, we also study those drugs reported by Lac la Biche pharmacies as commonly prescribed and sold in the area, such as metformin and omeprazole. Target analytes were extracted from lake water samples by solid phase extraction and quantified via high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. Preliminary results suggest that occurrence of drugs in lake waters of Lac la Biche is highly dependent on distance from their primary sources, such as the wastewater treatment plant.
Key words: pharmaceuticals, aquatic ecosystem, LC/MS, wastewater