Fate and mobility of human Pharmaceuticals during artificial groundwater recharge with reclaimed wastewater

摘要

Recently, different human pharmaceutically active compounds together with their metabolites have been detected at measurable levels in groundwater and even in drinking water where reclaimed domestic wastewater is used for direct or indirect portable reuse purposes (Heberer et al., 2001; Ternes et al, 2006). It is blamed onto the fact that Pharmaceuticals cannot be completely removed during traditional wastewater treatment (Joss et al., 2005), and they consequently entered the soil aquifer within the treated wastewater effluents while subsurface treatment process is practiced. The question arises here that to which degree Pharmaceuticals can be removed by soil-aquifer treatment. Information concerning the fate and transportation of Pharmaceuticals during subsurface treatment is essential to answer the question above.