Analytical methods for monitoring pharmaceutical and illicit drugs in wastewater and biological matrices

Natural water chemistry has been a topic of interest for centuries and during this long period of investigation, many aspects of aqueous chemistry have been discovered, forgotten and rediscovered again, but the chemical pollution of water resources is one of the major challenges facing the humanity in this century. Indeed, wastewater analysis has become a rapidly developing scientific discipline with the potential to monitor real-time data on geographical and temporal trends in substance consumption and the environmental contamination caused by them. Concerning water, monitoring the quality of the water and its toxicological load is mandatory to guarantee citizens the consumption of pure water. It is necessary to extend access to clean water by planning actions able to treat contaminated water through environmentally sustainable technologies with the final aim of guaranteeing a low cost and safe water. Therefore, it is important to implement existing methodologies. In fact, the physical, chemical and biological methods used in conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are not always effective in removing the so-called contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). CECs are chemical substances from anthropogenic origin present in the environment at trace and ultra-trace levels. Among the contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), pharmaceutical drugs and personal care products (PPCPs) play an increasing role. The term PPCP comprises thousands of different chemical compounds, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, illicit drugs, veterinary drugs, perfumes, creams, diagnostic and nutraceutical agents, and many others. The use and abuse of pharmaceutical and illicit drugs is an increasingly widespread phenomenon both nationally and internationally; however, it is difficult to determine with certainty what substances are actually used by the population, the quantities consumed, or to follow the time trends and identify the emergence of new substances. The complexity of the phenomenon has further increased in recent years, with the appearance on the illegal market of a wide range of new synthetic substances of abuse, generically called New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). My PhD project focused mainly on PPCPs, and particularly on the pharmaceutical and illicit drugs which are increasingly used in many Countries. The detection of these substances in waters has a dual goal: on one side, for their role as contaminants (e.g. for their effect on drug resistance phenomena or effects on aquatic flora), and secondly as their levels in waters can be used as indicators of consumption in certain population. The present research aimed to develop new methods for the simultaneous determination of a wide panel of pharmaceutical, illicit drugs and their urinary metabolites in wastewater from municipal wastewater treatment plant. With these methods, it will therefore be possible to trace the type and quantity of substances collectively consumed by the populations served by the plants under study. Using different biological matrices, the main metabolic pathways of the newer NPSs and the extent to which they are modified in the body before being excreted and entering the sewage system were also investigated. Finally, a collaboration was initiated with partners in Italian and non-Italian cities to compare consumption trends and patterns of use of pharmaceutical and illicit drugs by different population.