Use of acetaminophen and sucralose as co-analytes to differentiate sources of human excreta in surface waters (original) (raw)
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Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2023
Prevalence of cesspools on tropical islands suggests that high concentrations of enteric bacteria in streams and coastal waters are an indicator of groundwater contamination by human wastewater. But enterococci bacteria may also be from homeothermic animals common to these watersheds or bacteria living in sediments. Sucralose, a manufactured chemical not destroyed in passage through the human gut, cesspools, septic systems, or wastewater treatment facilities, was used to test for the presence of human wastewater in streams on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Effluent from six municipal wastewater treatment plants showed an average concentration of 39,167 ng/L of sucralose, roughly back-calculated to 9 ng/L per person, enough to present itself in cesspool effluent contaminated waters. Of 24 streams tested, 79% were positive for sucralose at least once in four sets of sampling. All streams tested positive for enterococci bacteria above established standards. Serial testing of the pair of indicators in the same location over time and applying the Multiplication Rule to the independent samples provide a probabilistic certainty level that the water is chronically polluted by human waste. When repeatedly paired with tests for enterococci, sucralose testing is a cost-effective means for assessing human health risk and for developing proper waste management programs that has been underutilized in underdeveloped tropical and island settings.
Water Research, 2014
There is no quantitative data on the occurrence of artificial sweeteners in the aquatic environment in Southeast Asian countries, particularly no information on their suitability as indicators of raw wastewater contamination on surface water and groundwater. This study provided the first quantitative information on the occurrence of artificial sweeteners in raw wastewater, surface water and groundwater in the urban catchment area in Singapore. Acesulfame, cyclamate, saccharin, and sucralose were ubiquitous in raw wastewater samples at concentrations in the range of ng/Lemg/L, while other sweeteners were not found or found only in a few of the raw wastewater samples. Residential and commercial effluents were demonstrated to be the two main sources of artificial sweeteners entering the municipal sewer systems. Relatively higher concentrations of the detected sweeteners were frequently found in surface waters at the sampling sites located in the residential/commercial areas. No significant difference in the concentrations of the detected sweeteners in surface water or groundwater was noted between wet and dry weather conditions (unpaired T-test, p> 0.05). Relatively higher concentrations and detection frequencies of acesulfame, cyclamate and saccharin in surface water samples were observed at the potentially impacted sampling sites, while these sweeteners were absent in most of the background surface water samples. Similarly, acesulfame, cyclamate, and saccharin were found in most groundwater samples at the monitoring well (GW6), which is located close to known leaking sewer segment; whereas these were absent in the background monitoring well, which is located in the catchment with no known wastewater sources. Taken together, the results suggest that acesulfame, cyclamate, and saccharin can be used as potential indicators of raw wastewater contamination in surface water and groundwater.
The Artificial Sweetener Acesulfame as Marker of Domestic Wastewater in Groundwater
To assess sources and magnitude of possible groundwater contamination, chemical markers have proved to be useful. A chemical that is used in everyday life, the artificial sweetener acesulfame, may be ideally suited for detection of traces of domestic wastewater in natural waters. The compound was found ubiquitously in wastewater, surface waters, and groundwater from Switzerland. Acesulfame was not eliminated in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and was quite persistent in lakes. Concentrations in lakes increased with population in the catchment area and decreased with water throughflow, i.e., concentrations were proportional to the ratio population per throughflow, a measure for the actual anthropogenic burden of a lake by domestic wastewater. Moreover, acesulfame was detectable in 65 of 100 groundwater samples. Highest concentrations of up to 6 μg/L, corresponding to a wastewater burden of ≈30%, were observed in areas with significant infiltration of river water, where the infil...
Science of The Total Environment, 2008
Numerous studies have shown that a variety of manufactured and natural organic compounds such as pharmaceuticals, steroids, surfactants, flame retardants, fragrances, plasticizers and other chemicals often associated with wastewaters have been detected in the vicinity of municipal wastewater discharges and livestock agricultural facilities. To provide new data and insights about the environmental presence of some of these chemicals in untreated sources of drinking water in the United States targeted sites were sampled and analyzed for 100 analytes with sub-parts per billion detection capabilities. The sites included 25 ground-and 49 surface-water sources of drinking water serving populations ranging from one family to over 8 million people.
Applied and environmental microbiology, 2016
Stormwater runoff is a major source of pollution and understanding the components of stormwater discharge is essential to remediation efforts and proper assessment of risks to human and ecosystem health. In this study, Escherichia coli and ampicillin-resistant E. coli were quantified and microbial source tracking (MST) markers were detected and enumerated via endpoint polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) including markers for general Bacteroidales, human, ruminant/cow, gull, and dog) in stormwater outfalls and sites along the Humber River in Toronto, ON. Additionally, chemical source tracking (CST) markers, specific for human wastewater, (caffeine, carbamazepine, codeine, cotinine, acetaminophen and acesulfame) were quantified. Human and gull fecal sources were detected at all sites, although concentrations of the human fecal marker were higher, particularly in outfalls (mean outfall concentrations of 4.22 log10 copy numbers(CN)/100 ml for human and 0.46 log10...
Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2019
Narragansett Bay is an urban estuary that historically has been impacted by long-term discharge of sanitary wastewater (WW) effluents. High-density water sampling was conducted in Narragansett Bay, RI, USA, in an effort to understand the distribution and behavior of sucralose, an artificial sweetener that has shown utility as a sanitary wastewater tracer. Water samples were collected at sixty-seven sites and analyzed for sucralose, whose performance was compared to other tracers present in wastewater effluents. Concentrations of sucralose were much higher than the other tracers measured, carbamazepine and caffeine, ranging from 18 to 3180 ng/L and corresponded well with salinity (r 2 = 0.88), demonstrating conservative behavior throughout the Bay. Mapped interpolation data using an empirical bayesian kriging model clearly show the spatial trends of WW and how estuarine processes influence dilution and dispersion throughout the Bay. These findings provide further evidence of the efficacy of sucralose as a wastewater tracer in large urban estuaries where continuous high-volume discharge of WW occur.
2017
The information obtained from the chemical analysis of specific human excretion products (biomarkers) in urban wastewater can be used to estimate the exposure or consumption of the population under investigation to a defined substance. A proper biomarker can provide relevant information about lifestyle habits, health and wellbeing, but its selection is not an easy task as it should fulfil several specific requirements in order to be successfully employed. This paper aims to summarize the current knowledge related to the most relevant biomarkers used so far. In addition, some potential wastewater biomarkers that could be used for future applications were evaluated. For this purpose, representative chemical classes have been chosen and grouped in four main categories: (i) those that provide estimates of lifestyle factors and substance use, (ii) those used to estimate the exposure to toxicants present in the environment and food, (iii) those that have the potential to provide information about public health and illness and (iv) those used to estimate the population size. To facilitate the evaluation of the eligibility of a compound as a biomarker, information, when available, on stability in urine and wastewater and pharmacokinetic data (i.e. metabolism and urinary excretion profile) has been reviewed. Finally, several needs and recommendations for future research are proposed.
Source discrimination of drug residues in wastewater: The case of salbutamol
Journal of Chromatography B, 2016
Analytical methods used for pharmaceuticals and drugs of abuse in sewage play a fundamental role in wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) studies. Here quantitative analysis of drug metabolites in raw wastewaters is used to determine consumption from general population. Its great advantage in public health studies is that it gives objective, real-time data about community use of chemicals, stereoselectivity in metabolism and enantiomeric ratio analysis appears to be a useful approach in WBE studies to identify different sources of drugs in the environment, when no metabolic products are present at useful analytical levels.