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(M/EH057) Human drugs in river Rhine, bankfiltrated waters, and drinking waters. Brauch, Heinz-Juergen1, Fleig, Michael1, Lange, Frank Thomas1, Sacher, Frank1, 1 ABSTRACT- In the years 1996 to 2000 an extensive monitoring was performed in order to study the occurrence of human drugs in river Rhine, one of Germany's largest drinking water resources, as well as their fate during bankfiltration and different treatment processes and finally their occurrence in drinking waters. It was found out that due to an incomplete elimination in waste water treatment plants, residues of pharmaceutical products are found in river Rhine. Compounds which are most often found are diclofenac, an antirheumatic and analgesic, carbamazepine, an antiepileptic which is also used as antidepressant, clofibric acid and bezafibrate, two lipid regulating agents, and aminotrizoic acid, iopamidol and iopromide, some iodinated x-ray contrast media. These compounds are regularly found in river Rhine in concentrations ranging from 5 to 1000 ng/L. Furthermore, a multitude of other compounds like beta-blockers or antibiotics are sporadically found. However, during subsoil passage most of these compounds are totally removed and only few drugs are found in bankfiltrated waters which are used as raw waters for drinking water production. By lab-scale experiments as well as by the assessment of monitoring data it was found that the concentrations of drugs could be further reduced by subsequent treatment steps like ozonation or GAC filtration and that, as a rule, drugs could not be detected in drinking waters. Key words: human drugs, river Rhine, bankfiltration, drinking water |
