Screening Analysis of Human Pharmaceutical Compounds in U.S. Surface Waters

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• 作者：Paul D. Anderson ; Vincent J. D'Aco ; Peter Shanahan ; Steven C. Chapra ; Mary E. Buzby ; Virginia L. Cunningham ; Beth M. DuPlessie ; Eileen P. Hayes ; Frank J. Mastrocco ; Neil J. Parke ; John C. Rader ; John
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
• 出版年：2004
• 出版时间：February 1, 2004
• 年：2004
• 卷：38
• 期：3
• 页码：838 - 849
• 全文大小：366K
• 年卷期：v.38,no.3(February 1, 2004)
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

The PhATE (Pharmaceutical Assessment and TransportEvaluation) model presented in this paper was developedas a tool to estimate concentrations of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in U.S. surface waters that resultfrom patient use (or consumption) of medicines. PhATEuses a mass balance approach to model predictedenvironmental concentrations (PECs) in 11 watershedsselected to be representative of most hydrologic regionsof the United States. The model divides rivers into discretesegments. It estimates the mass of API that enters asegment from upstream or from publicly owned treatmentworks (POTW) and is subsequently lost from the segmentvia in-stream loss mechanisms or flow diversions (i.e., man-made withdrawals). POTW discharge loads are estimatedbased on the population served, the API use per capita,the potential loss of the compound associated with humanuse (e.g., metabolism), and the portion of the API massremoved in the POTW. Simulations using three surrogatecompounds show that PECs generated by PhATE are generallywithin an order of magnitude of measured concentrationsand that the cumulative probability distribution of PECsfor all watersheds included in PhATE is consistent with thenationwide distribution of measured concentrations ofthe surrogate compounds. Model simulations for 11 APIsyielded four categories of results. (1) PECs fit measured datafor two compounds. (2) PECs are below analyticalmethod detection limits and thus are consistent withmeasured data for three compounds. (3) PECs are higherthan (i.e., not consistent with) measured data for threecompounds. However, this may be the consequence of asyet unidentified depletion mechanisms. (4) PECs areseveral orders of magnitude below some measured databut consistent with most measured data for three compounds.For the fourth category, closer examination of samplinglocations suggests that the field-measured concentrationsfor these compounds do not accurately reflect humanuse. Overall, these results demonstrate that PhATE maybe used to predict screening-level concentrations of APIsand related compounds in the environment as well as toevaluate the suitability of existing fate information for an API.