An overview of the parabens, triclosan and triclocarban contamination in the continuum greywater – surface water

International audienceThe use of personal care products (PCPs) is suspected to be part of the chemical pollution of surface waters. Among these chemicals, parabens (PBs), triclosan (TCS) and triclocarban (TCC) are widely used in the formulation of PCPs but also in sportive clothes, plastic objects, kitchenware, pharmaceuticals and food products as antiseptic or conservative. They are found ubiquitously in surface waters worldwide and thus becoming of increasing concern due to their wide utilization and their potential negative effect on aquatic ecosystems as endocrine disruptors or induction of antibiotic resistance. This study investigates the dynamic of these substances from their household uses to their releases in the river, in order to propose solutions to mitigate them. Therefore, the continuum " house-sanitation systems – river " at a large scale, a heavily urbanized but weakly industrialized area, the Paris conurbation, was considered: (i) to find the origin of the contamination in greywater; (ii) to understand their transport in the sanitation system and the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP); and (iii) to assess the contamination of both the Seine River and the discharges under dry and wet weather periods. With the help of the City of Paris and the Public Sanitation of the Paris conurbation (SIAAP), a comprehensive sampling campaign has been conducted. Five types of greywater were sampled: dishwasher (n=6), manual dishwashing (n=5), washing machine (n=11), showers (n=19) and washbasin (n=5). Domestic wastewaters from hospital (n=5), hair salon (n=23) and two Parisian districts (n=15) were also studied. The main seven Parisian sewer trunks (n=39) were considered as they represent the practices of about 8 million inhabitants. Concerning the Seine River, two points were sampled up and downstream Paris (n=15). The main water discharges from WWTP under dry weather (n=11) and from combined sewer overflow (CSO) under wet weather (n=12) were evaluated