Psychiatric drugs in the final effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)

In a study by the Center for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) at the University of Aveiro, the work carried out during researcher Vânia Calisto's doctorate shows that wastewater treatment plants do not eliminate this type of compound. The antiepileptic carbamazepine was found in the final effluents of the Aveiro North and South Wastewater Treatment Plants in concentrations of around micrograms per liter, a quantity considered sufficient to suspect chronic effects, in the case of long exposure, on aquatic living beings. The researcher classifies these results as "quite worrying" in terms of persistence in the environment, although the concentrations found are lower than those described in studies carried out in other European countries.