Psychiatric drugs in the final effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP)

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