Occurrence and seasonal variations of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in drinking water and wastewater treatment plants in Samsun, Turkey

In this study, the occurrence and removal of five pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the influent and effluent from both a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) and a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Samsun, Turkey was investigated. The concentrations of five pharmaceuticals, namely carbamazepine, diclofenac, ibuprofen, paracetamol and triclosan, were reported in different seasons from autumn 2016 to summer 2017. The targeted PPCPs were analysed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS–MS). Results of the analysis of samples from influent of the DWTP show that the average concentrations of carbamazepine, ibuprofen and triclosan in different seasons were 0.385 μg/L, 0.038 μg/L and 0.342 μg/L, respectively. The maximum concentration of carbamazepine was recorded in spring (0.84 μg/L), while in summer, triclosan and ibuprofen with values of 0.155 μg/L and 0.735 μg/L were highest. However, the concentrations of other selected drugs were below the limit of detection (LOD) or were not detected at all. In the effluent of the DWTP, only triclosan was detected with a concentration 0.565 μg/L in summer. Similarly, the average concentrations of carbamazepine, ibuprofen, paracetamol, and triclosan in the influent of the WWTP in different seasons were 78.76 μg/L, 2.77 μg/L, 2.31 μg/L and 0.58 μg/L, respectively. Concentrations in the influent of the WWTP were also not negligible, where the maximum concentration of carbamazepine was observed in autumn, ibuprofen and triclosan in winter, paracetamol in spring, and diclofenac in summer. However, in the effluent of the WWTP, only carbamazepine was detected with an average concentration of 2.30 μg/L. Seasonal variations in the presence/detection of PPCPs in both treatment plants were observed. Statistical tools were applied to verify the obtained results.