Factors driving PPCPs uptake by crops after wastewater irrigation and human health implications

Adrià Sunyer-Caldú; Gerard Quintana; M Silvia Diaz-Cruz

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.116923

Factors driving PPCPs uptake by crops after wastewater irrigation and human health implications

Environ Res. 2023 Nov 15;237(Pt 1):116923. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116923. Epub 2023 Aug 19.

Authors

Adrià Sunyer-Caldú¹, Gerard Quintana², M Silvia Diaz-Cruz³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) Severo Ochoa Excellence Center, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, E-08034, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Environmental Science (ACES, Exposure & Effects), Science for Life Laboratory, Stockholm University, Stockholm, 106 91, Sweden.
² Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) Severo Ochoa Excellence Center, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, E-08034, Barcelona, Spain.
³ Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) Severo Ochoa Excellence Center, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, E-08034, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: silvia.diaz@idaea.csic.es.

PMID: 37598843
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116923

Abstract

Currently, water scarcity affects more than three billion people. Nevertheless, the volume of treated wastewater discharged into the environment is estimated to exceed 100 m³ per inhabitant/year. These water resources are regularly used in agriculture worldwide to overcome water shortages. Such a practice, however, entails the uptake of waterborne pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), by crops and their further access to the food web, constituting an additional route of human exposure to PPCPs, with potential health outcomes. In this study, the occurrence of 56 PPCPs in tomatoes, lettuce, and carrot, together with soil and irrigation water, was evaluated using a QuEChERS-based methodology for extraction and LC-MS/MS for analysis. The influence of the selected cultivation conditions on the plant uptake levels of PPCPs was assessed. Two irrigation water qualities (secondary and tertiary treatment effluents), two soil compositions (sandy and clayey), two irrigation systems (dripping and sprinkling), and three crop types (lettuce, tomato, and carrot) were tested. Carrots showed the highest load of PPCPs (7787 ng/g dw), followed by tomatoes (1692 ng/g dw) and lettuces (1248 ng/g dw). The most translocated PPCPs were norfluoxetine (fluoxetine antidepressant main metabolite) (521 ng/g dw), and the anti-inflammatory diclofenac (360 ng/g dw). Nine PPCPs, are reported to be accumulated in crops for the first time. Water quality was the most important factor for reducing PPCPs' plant uptake. Overall, the best conditions for reducing PPCP uptake by crops were irrigation with reclaimed water by sprinkling in soils with higher clay content. The risk assessment performed revealed that the crops' consumption posed no risk to human health. This study serves as the first comprehensive assessment of the relevance of diverse cultivation factors on PPCPs' plant uptake under field agricultural practices.

Keywords: Agri-food; Human health risk; Pharmaceuticals and personal care products; Plant uptake; Water reuse.