Occurrence, distribution and risk assessment of abused drugs and their metabolites in a typical urban river in north China

Highlights

We developed a method for determining 11 abused drugs in water and sediment.

METH and EPH were the dominant drugs in water and sediment in Beiyunhe River.

Abuse drugs in Beiyunhe River were mainly from hospitals and sewage effluents.

Abused drugs in the water would not impair the aquatic ecosystem biologically.

Abstract

This study investigated the presence of 11 abused drugs and their metabolites, including amphetamine, methamphetamine (METH), ketamine, ephedrine (EPH), cocaine, benzoylecgonine, methadone, morphine, heroin, codeine, and methcathinone in the surface water and sediment samples of Beiyunhe River, a typical urban river flowing through Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei provinces in North China. An analytical method of determining these abused drugs and their metabolites in water and sediment was developed and validated prior to sample collection in the study area. Results showed that METH and EPH were predominant in water and sediment samples. The total drug concentrations ranged from 26.6 to 183.0 ng/L in water and from 2.6 to 32.4 ng/g dry weight in sediment, and the drugs mainly originated from hospitals and sewage treatment plants. The average field-based sediment water distribution coefficients of abused drugs were calculated between 149.3 and 1214.0 L/kg and corrected by organic carbon. Quotient method was used to assess the risks. The findings revealed that these drugs and their metabolites at determined concentrations in water samples will not impair the aquatic ecosystem biologically, but their potential harmful effect on the function of the ecosystem and human health should not be overlooked.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Drugs of abuse / Occurrence / Distribution / Urban river / Environmental risk

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (No. 2017ZX07302001) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41673120).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1140-5 and is accessible for authorized users.

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