Monitoring of some pharmaceutical compounds in waste water treatment plant influent and effluent samples by liquid chromatography

Pharmaceutical compounds are continually introduced into the environment as a result of industrial and domestic use. Influents and effluents from three municipal waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) with varying waste water treatment technologies and design were analyzed for six anti-inflammatory drugs, an antiepileptic drug and a nervous stimulant during nine months period. The temporal evolution and removal rates in the WWTPs of the pharmaceutical compounds have been studied. Analytical determination was carried out by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with multiwaved detector after sample clean up and concentration by solid phase extraction (SPE). All compounds were detected not only in influents but also in waste water effluents. These findings indicate that several conventional waste water management practices are not effective in the complete removal of pharmaceutical compounds, and their discharges have a large potential to affect the aquatic environment.