Artigo Acesso aberto Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

Emerging Contaminants in Streams of Doce River Watershed, Minas Gerais, Brazil

2022; Frontiers Media; Volume: 9; Linguagem: Inglês

10.3389/fenvs.2021.801599

ISSN

2296-665X

Autores

Marcelo Pedrosa Gomes, Júlio César Moreira Brito, Fábio Vieira, Rafael Shinji Akiyama Kitamura, Philippe Juneau,

Tópico(s)

Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology

Resumo

This study investigated the occurrence and risk assessment of ten pharmaceutical products and two herbicides in the water of rivers from the Doce river watershed (Brazil). Of the 12 chemicals studied, ten (acyclovir, amoxicillin, azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, enrofloxacin, fluoxetine, erythromycin, sulfadiazine, sulfamethoxazole, glyphosate and aminomethylphosphonic acid) had a 100% detection rate. In general, total concentrations of all target drugs ranged from 4.6 to 14.5 μg L −1 , with fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides being the most representative classes of pharmaceutical products. Herbicides were found at concentrations at least ten times higher than those of the individual pharmaceutical products and represented the major class of contaminants in the samples. Most of the contaminants studied were above concentrations that pose an ecotoxicological risk to aquatic biota. Urban wastewater must be the main source of contaminants in waterbodies. Our results show that, in addition to the study of metal in water (currently being conducted after the Fundão dam breach), there is an urgent need to monitor emerging contaminant in waters from Doce river watershed rivers, as some chemicals pose environmental risks to aquatic life and humans due to the use of surface water for drinking and domestic purposes by the local population. Special attention should be given to glyphosate, aminomethylphosaphonic acid, and to ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin (whose concentrations are above predicted levels that induce resistance selection).

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