Pollutants of emerging concern originating from reclaimed wastewater: plant uptake, translocation and transformation - PECtake
Final Report Abstract
Reuse of treated municipal wastewater is a source of irrigation water in agriculture that is increasing in importance. This project has studied the uptake of organic contaminants, pollutants of emerging concern (PECs), that are found in treated municipal wastewater into food plants, their distribution between plant organs and their biotransformation in plants. This was performed by a combination of experiments of increasing complexity, from laboratory over greenhouse and lysimeter studies to real field situations, in Israel, Jordan and Germany. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to quantify PECs, mostly pharmaceuticals, and known transformation products (TPs), and to detect and identify new TPs formed in plants. It was shown that polar nonionic low molecular weight PECs were taken up most effectively, namely the pharmaceutical carbamazepine, while the uptake of ionic compounds was significantly lower. Within plants the PEC tend to accumulate in leaves, where most water is lost by evapotranspiration. Correspondingly, concentrations of PECs in edible parts (food) of plants were highest for leafy vegetables, followed by root and fruit bearing vegetables. A total number of 12 PECs and six TPs were determined frequently in 10 different vegetables harvested from fields, in concentrations ranging from 2 to 200 ng/g dry weight. Among these compounds were pharmaceuticals like carbamazepine, lamotrigine, gapapentine, TPs of carbamazepine, the artificial sweetener acesulfame and the corrosion inhibitor benzotriazole. The extent of uptake and distribution of PECs by different plants appears to be plant-specific. Plants can also effectively transform PECs after uptake by phase-I and phase-II metabolism. In greenhouse experiments with tomato up to 22 TPs of carbamazepine could be detected and transformation pathway be proposed. It appeared that the total concentration of TPs exceeded the concentration of the parent compound, indicating that biotransformation in plants can be significant for some PECs. If this is not considered, the uptake of parent compounds into plants and the exposure of consumers would be underestimated. As the extent of uptake, translocation and transformation of PECs depends on the culture/growth conditions, the plant species and the physico-chemical properties of the PECs, the quantitative importance of each of the processes is difficult to predict. Highest concentrations in edible parts of plants can be expected in soils with low carbon content, for polar non-ionic compounds and for leafy vegetables.
Publications
- (2014) Biodegradability of pharmaceutical compounds in agricultural soils irrigated with treated wastewater. Environ. Pollut. 185, 168-177
Grossberger A., Hadar Y., Borch T., Chefetz B.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2013.10.038) - (2015) Electrochemistry Combined with LC-HRMS: Elucidating Transformation Products of the Recalcitrant Pharmaceutical Compound Carbamazepine Generated by the White-Rot Fungus Pleurotus ostreatus. Environ. Sci. Technol. 49, 12342-12350
Seiwert B., Hadar Y., Reemtsma T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b02229) - (2015) Transformation Pathways of the Recalcitrant Pharmaceutical Compound Carbamazepine by the White-Rot Fungus Pleurotus ostreatus: Effects of Growth Conditions. Environ. Sci. Technol. 49, 12351 – 12362
Golan-Rozen N., Seiwert B., Riemenschneider C., Reemtsma T., Chefetz B., Hadar Y.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b02222) - (2016) Pharmaceuticals, their metabolites, and other polar pollutants in field-grown vegetables irrigated with treated municipal wastewater. J. Agric. Food Chem. 64, 5784 – 5792
Riemenschneider C., Al-Raggad M., Moeder M., Seiwert B., Salameh E., Reemtsma T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.6b01696) - (2017) An LC-MS/MS method for the determination of 28 polar environmental contaminants and metabolites in vegetables irrigated with treated municipal wastewater. Anal. Methods 9, 1273-1281
Riemenschneider C., Seiwert B., Goldstein M., Al-Raggad M., Salameh E., Chefetz B., Reemtsma T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1039/C6AY02984A) - (2017) Extensive transformation of the pharmaceutical carbamazepine following uptake into intact tomato plants. Environ. Sci. Technol. 51, 6100 - 6109
Riemenschneider C., Seiwert B., Moeder M., Schwarz D., Reemtsma T.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b06485) - (2017) Wiederverwendung von behandeltem Abwasser in der Landwirtschaft - Untersuchungen zum Verbleib von organischen Spurenstoffen in Nutzpflanzen mittels LC-MS. Dissertation, Univ. Leipzig, Fak. Chemie und Mineralogie
Riemenschneider, Christina
