Pharmaceuticals in sewage water : An analysis of anti-anxiety drugs in incoming wastewater to Umeå's treatment plant

As our population grows, so does the use of prescribed drugs. Pharmaceuticals are not completely degradable in the body and often end up in our sewage water. Wastewater treatment plants are not yet able to completely purify the water from medicines, which results in a large part of all medicines ending up in our watercourses and potentially affecting our aquatic ecosystems in a negative way. Hence, although pharmaceutical wastes in our waters have not yet shown any impact on humans, the increase in drugs polluting our waters may have a big effect on our public health in the future. Analysis of our sewage waters can be a good method to see if there is an increase in pollution of pharmaceuticals and can help us to put in measures and different types of water purification if needed. The purpose of this study is to investigate if there has been an increase in anti-anxiety drugs in Umeå’s sewage water since 2012, when a similar study was made, and to examine if the use varies over a week. For this study three samples were taken from Umeå’s main wastewater treatment plant and were analyzed using a liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method. The result in this study shows that the use doesn’t vary during the week and gives indications of an increase in use of anti-anxiety drugs since 2012. The increase can be due to the higher population in Umeå and possibly an increase in illicit use of anti-anxiety drugs.