Occurrence of organic micropollutants and hormones in Swedish surface water

Sammanfattning: The occurrence and source distribution of organic micropollutants (OMPs) have been investigated in Swedish surface waters, in 23 rivers connected to the lakes Vänern, Vättern and Mälaren, 3 Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and 3 Drinking water plants (DWTPs) located in the middle of Sweden was sampled. Compounds such as pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, pesticides, personal care products, hormones, Per- and polyflouroalkyl substances (PFASs), isoflavones, stimulants and parabens were selected. The analysis was done by using solid phase extraction (SPE) and Ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Of the 121 studied compounds 91 was detected in concentration levels varying between a few ng/L up to 160 µg/L in wastewater effluent. The detected concentrations of 80 compounds in surface water from rivers varied from low ng L-1up to 3.3 µg/L, 43 OMPs within the range from low ng/L up to 370 ng/ L could be detected in the lakes and 35 OMPs could be found in levels from low ng/L up to 2.9 µg/L in the drinking water. The number of detected compounds and concentration levels clearly decreases from wastewater influent to effluent, rivers, lakes and lastly to drinking water. The concentration levels of OMPs in the surface water samples varied between sampling sites and the three lakes making it clear that Lake Mälaren is the most contaminated one out of these three. OMPs such as antibiotics, antidepressants and personal care products were most frequently detected in all samples. The highest total OMP concentration levels were found in Enköping river (79 µg/L), Lövsta river (33 µg/L), Ösan (16 µg/L) and Lillån (13 µg/L). A risk assessment for drinking water with regard to human health was conducted for two compounds by calculating the Benchmark Quotient (BQ) using drinking water equivalent levels (DWELs). Two compounds, carbamazepine and bezafibrate, was selected based on detection frequency and available toxicity data. While bezafibrate didn’t show any indications of risk to human health, carbamazepine had a BQ of 1.47 which indicates a risk to human health when humans are exposed to these concentration levels over a period of a lifetime.