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Dissipation and Leaching Potential of Selected Pharmaceutically Active Compounds in Soils Amended with Biosolids

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Abstract

Biosolids land application is an important pathway introducing pharmaceuticals into the environment. In this work, laboratory column and dissipation experiments were performed using soils of varying properties in order to study the fate and transport of pharmaceutical residues introduced by the land application of biosolids. For experimentation, five pharmaceutical compounds (carbamazepine, diphenhydramine, fluoxetine, diltiazem, and clindamycin) and two metabolites (carbamazepine-10,11-epoxide and norfluoxetine) commonly found in biosolids were selected. Leaching experiments indicate that the selected pharmaceuticals have low mobility in tested soils. However, small portions of the applied pharmaceuticals were recovered in the leachates, likely attributed to sorption to dissolved organic matter. Dissipation experiments show that carbamazepine, diphenhydramine, and fluoxetine were persistent in soils, whereas the dissipation of diltiazem and clindamycin was affected by redox conditions and soil properties.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the USDA-CSREES program under grant Nos. 2008-38898-19239 and 2003-38894-020032. We would like to thank Dr. Michael Weintraub and Zachary Rinkes for DOC analysis, Todd Smith and Bob Martin at the Oregon Wastewater Treatment Plant, Oregon, OH and the Northwest Ohio Biosolids working group (F. Akbar, M. Bisesi, A. Bhuiyan, K. Czajkowski, D. Dwyer, B. Fink, B. Harrington, S. Khuder, A. Kumar, S. Milz, B.B. M. Sridhar, A. Spongberg, R.Vincent, and V. Sigler) for support.

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Wu, C., Spongberg, A.L., Witter, J.D. et al. Dissipation and Leaching Potential of Selected Pharmaceutically Active Compounds in Soils Amended with Biosolids. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 59, 343–351 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-010-9500-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-010-9500-y

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