Determination of pharmaceuticals and heavy metals in groundwater for human and animal consumption and crop irrigation in Galicia

ABSTRACT

Pharmaceuticals and heavy metals are contaminants present in groundwaters, which are the main source of drinking water in most parts of the world. In the northwest region of Spain, Galicia, groundwater harvesting is a common practice for drinking water supply, crop irrigation, cattle watering, as well as recreational use such as filling pools. In order to assess the quality of Galician groundwaters, the presence of 21 pharmaceuticals and 10 heavy metals was analysed by UPLC-MS/MS and ICP/MS methods, respectively, in a total of 118 groundwater samples from private wells. Seventeen of the 21 compounds studied were detected in 28% of the samples, with the highest presence of pharmaceuticals belonging to the antimicrobial group (52%), specifically the sulphonamides group in a range of concentration between 21 and 14.9 ng/L. In addition, 30% of the samples contained at least one heavy metal (Mn, As and Fe) above the legally permitted levels. Evaluation of the risk associated with the consumption of the analysed groundwater indicated no human risk for any of the detected pharmaceuticals but high cancer risk for children due to Cd, Cr and As concentrations was observe

KEYWORDS:

• Pharmaceuticals
• heavy metals
• groundwater pollution
• drinking water
• health risk assessment

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Xunta de Galicia for funding this study through Red BioAuga Project (ED431D 2017/11). We also wish to thank the staff of the Centro de Apoio Científico e Tecnolóxico of the University of Santiago de Compostela (CACTUS) for their help in the analysis of the water samples.

Also, we would like to express our gratitude to the well owners for providing us the samples, allowing the analysis and all the information necessary for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the BioAuga Project (ED431D 2017/11) [Xunta de Galicia].