engleski

Determination of xenoestrogens and pharmaceuticals in Croatian wastewaters and ambient waters by liquid chromatography/ tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS)

One of the indirect, but significant environmental consequences of the war in Croatia was a partial disintegration of various national instruments for integrated environmental protection, including water management. During 1990s, the execution of monitoring programs in many Croatian regions, affected by war activities, was completely interrupted. Therefore, there has been an urgent need to fill the gap with respect to the missing data on hazardous chemical contaminants. Besides classical priority pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), there is a growing concern regarding levels of unregulated chemical contaminants, which are not included in regular monitoring programs. Among different classes of emerging chemical contaminants, a special attention has recently been paid to anthropogenic endocrine-disrupting compounds and pharmaceuticals. In this study, we have carried out a nation-wide screening of wastewaters (including about 20 municipalities) and ambient waters for two major classes of emerging contaminants. The target analytes comprised detergent-derived xenoestrogenic compounds of the alkylphenol type and three major classes of antimicrobials, including sufonamides, fluoroquinolones and macrolides. In addition, a more detailed study was performed on surfactant-derived xenoestrogenic compounds in the Krka River estuary, for which some pre-war data existed, in order to observe possible trends. All determinations were performed by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), which allowed reliable determination of the analytes in both wastewaters and ambient waters. Analyses of alkylphenolic compounds confirmed their widespread occurrence in Croatian wastewaters. However, the concentrations were generally relatively low and suggest a decreasing trend in comparison to some previous surveys, conducted before the war. The most abundant alkylphenolic species in non-treated wastewaters were those derived from non-ionic surfactants of the nonylphenol polyethoxylate (NPnEO) type. Analyses of 15 antimicrobials revealed a widespread occurrence of these pharmaceuticals in municipal wastewaters in concentrations, which are comparable to the levels, reported in Western Europe.

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