Publication Date
4-7-2007
Abstract
A four season study was carried out between August 2003 and May 2004 to determine if selected pharmaceuticals were present in the New York City Watershed. Water samples were collected from eight reservoir keypoints and from the effluents of four wastewater water treatment plants in the watershed area. Analyses were conducted for the following twelve compounds: amoxicillin, atenolol, caffeine, carbamazepine, cephalexin, estrone, 17α-ethinylestradiol, 17β-estradiol, ibuprofen, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, and valproic acid. The majority of the detections were found in the wastewater effluents. Carbamazepine was the most frequently detected compound (100%; concentration range: 22-551 ng/L), followed by atenolol (94%; ND-14,200 ng/L), trimethoprim (83%; ND-37,000 ng/L), ibuprofen (61%; ND-14,600 ng/L), and caffeine (49%; ND-37,200 ng/L), and estrone was detected in one sample (56 ng/L). Only ibuprofen (2.5%; ND-932 ng/L) and caffeine (2.9%; ND-177 ng/L) were detected in the reservoir keypoint samples.