Page 141 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

122 Life Cycle Assessment of Wastewater Treatment

affect non-target aquatic life forms. For this reason, it is important to assess their
ecotoxicological effect. Currently accessible data on ecotoxins in the environment
permits us to start distinguishing the dangers they may pose, albeit there has been
little thought about the impacts on various species from the long-term, low-level
presence of veterinary antimicrobials (Sarmah et al., 2006). Pharmaceutical prod-
ucts can be accumulated from soil into plants that have been treated with biosolids
or compost or watered with wastewater.
7.3.1.1 Factors Determining the Bioaccumulation of Pharmaceuticals
We studied the factors determining the bioaccumulation of pharmaceuticals in fresh-
water mussels in a stream receiving effluent from wastewater treatment. Hence, our
three targets were (1) to observe the changes in concentration of pharmaceuticals and
personal care items in a stream receiving the outflow from a WWTP, (2) to compute
the bioaccumulation variables (BAFs) of pharmaceuticals in mussels confined in that
waterway, and (3) to determine the chemical and physical properties of pharmaceuti-
cals that might drive the bioaccumulation.

7.3.2 persisTence
The physicochemical properties of numerous pharmaceutical products imply that
many are not effortlessly removed by ordinary forms of water treatment, as is
shown by their presence in drinking water. The inability to completely remove
pharmaceutical products from WWTPs represents a potential hazard to aquatic
life and general wellbeing. The confirmation from checking is that pharmaceutical
products have also found their way into the aquatic environment and are univer-
sal. The widespread use of pharmaceutical products worldwide, combined with
the increasing presentation of new pharmaceuticals to the market, is contributing
significantly to the ecological presence of these chemicals and their active metabo-
lites in the oceanic environment (Snyder, 2008; Bu et al., 2013). Also, while not all
pharmaceutical products are stable, their consistent use and discharge into nature
implies that many are viewed as “pseudo-persistent.” Pseudo-persistent pharma-
ceuticals are proposed to have more prominent potential for ecological persistence
than other natural contaminants such as pesticides, in light of the fact that their
source is constantly being renewed even when followed by ecological procedures,
for example, biodegradation, photodegradation, and particulate sorption. Thus,
pharmaceuticals that might degrade would, in the long term and viably, remain
as tenacious compounds in view of their constant discharge into the environment
(Houtman et al., 2004).

7.3.3 ToxiciTy
The real worry about the dangerous ramifications of pharmaceuticals (e.g., stable
natural toxins, for example, polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs], perfluoroalkyl sub-
stances [PFASs], and polybrominated diphenyl ethers [PBDEs]) is that they were
developed specifically to increase their organic activity at low concentrations and to
focus on certain metabolic, enzymatic, or cell-flagging systems. The developmental