Pharmaceuticals as Emerging Pollutants in the Reclaimed Wastewater Used in Irrigation and Their Effects on Plants, Soils, and Groundwater

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) were investigated in five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), groundwater, irrigated soils, Amman Al-Balqa governorates Jordan. PPCPs extracted from water samples by solid-phase extraction (SPE) analyzed high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS). Carbamazepine, ciprofloxacin, ceftiofur, diclofenac, erythromycin, lincomycin, ofloxacin, pyrimthamine, spiramycin, sulfamethoxazole, sulfapyridine, testosterone, trimethoprim, thiamphenicol detected all raw wastewaters μg/L, whereas 45 below the detection limits (<0.02 μg/L) samples. Na`ur Abu Nuseir WWTPs showed high removal efficiencies comparison AL-Baqa`a, Salt, Fuhais-Mahis WWTPs. Boqorreya spring signs of contamination Salt WWTP effluents as a result mixing. Irrigation higher carbamazepine concentrations soils at top soil layers (0 to 20 cm) farms than its root zone (20 40 using drip irrigation system various plants. In plants, concentration was only level mint leaves. same farm, diclofenac olives not twigs leaves, indicating rate plant uptake especially during olive’s growth period. Furthermore, fruits, stems left on farm after harvesting are generally consumed cattle, which means entering food chain humans.