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Multi-Year Research Grants
Reclaimed Wastewater and Sludge as Sources for Pharmaceutical
Compounds: Fate in Soil and Groundwater
Current understanding of the fate of pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) in the soil-water
environment is highly limited. In this project we focus on three principal, inter-related
aspects: sorption interactions, degradability, and migration behavior of PCs in the soil-
water environment. The main objectives of the proposal were to evaluate: (1) the behavior
of PCs in top-layer soil; (2) migration behavior of PCs, assessing the threat of PC release to
groundwater quality; and (3) the biodegradability of PCs in treated wastewater-irrigated
soils. The sorptive behavior and mobility of PCs in the top soil layer were studied in
column experiments and biodegradation was studied in microcosms.
Our data suggest that application of biosolids to agricultural soil may result in greater
retardation of PCs in the top layer of the soil; however, the mobility of more polar and
water soluble PCs may not be affected by the addition of biosolids. Solution chemistry
(i.e., irrigation with reclaimed wastewater) can alter the behavior of PCs in the top-soil
profile: the high pH level of treated wastewater enhances the mobility of PCs that classify
as weak organic acids, and high concentrations of dissolved organic matter (DOM) may
also enhance mobility of PCs. Regarding the latter point, the ratio of
DOM:PCin the
solution must be relatively high to facilitate PC-DOM interactions.
Our data obtained from microcosm experiments show that carbamazepine (CBZ) is
highly stable in soils with t
1/2
> 300 days. All other tested PCs were found to degrade
in the soils, without significant differences between soils that were irrigated with
treated wastewater or fresh water. Due to the high persistence of CBZ, we evaluate
the possibility that pure culture of the white-rote fungus Pleurotus ostreatus is
capable of degrading this compound. Our data show high efficiency of P. ostreatus to
remove CBZ from solution using both manganese peroxidase and cytochrome p-450
monooxigenase enzymes.
Data obtained from this project suggest that active PCs introduced to the environment
via irrigation with reclaimed wastewater and/or sludge application are relatively
persistent; thus, they have the potential to contaminate water resources and be
retained in the top soil layer.
Research publications
(1)
Arye, G., Dror, I., & Berkowitz, B. (2011). Fate and transport of carbamazepine in soil aquifer
treatment (SAT) infiltration basin soils.
Chemosphere, 82
(2), 244-252.
(2)
Golan-Rozen, N., Chefetz, B., Ben-Ari, J., Geva, J., & Hadar, Y. (2011). Transformation of the
recalcitrant pharmaceutical compound carbamazepine by Pleurotus ostreatus: Role of cytochrome P450
monooxygenase and manganese peroxidase.
Environmental Science & Technology, 45
, 6800–6805.
(3)
Navon, R., Hernandes-Ruiz, S., Chorover, J., & Chefetz, B. (2011). Interactions of carbamazepine in
soil: Effects of dissolved organic matter.
Journal of Environmental Quality, 40
, 942-948.
(4)
Borgman, O., & Chefetz, B. (2013). Combined effects of biosolids application and irrigation with reclaimed
wastewater on transport of pharmaceutical compounds in arable soils.
Water Research, 47
, 3431-3443.
(5)
Grossberger, A., Hadar, Y., Borch, T., & Chefetz, B. (2014). Biodegradability of pharmaceutical compounds
in agricultural soils irrigated with treated wastewater.
Environmental Pollution, 185
, 168-177.
Benny Chefetz
1
Brian Berkowitz
2
Ishai Dror
2
Yitzhak Hadar
1
1. The Hebrew University
of Jerusalem
2. Weizmann Institute of Science
2008-2012