Assessing nutrient and pharmaceutical removal efficiency from wastewater using shallow wetland treatment mesocosms

Wastewaters from rural sewage lagoons in Manitoba contain pharmaceuticals that are potentially harmful to non-target organisms and reduce overall water quality when released. An option for reducing exposure to wastewater contaminants and potential toxicity is surface flow treatment wetlands. However, little is known of the fate of pharmaceuticals in these types of systems. The fate and effects of six pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, clofibric acid, fluoxetine, naproxen, sulfamethoxazole, sulfapyridine) were assessed in mesocosms simulating treatment wetlands in two separate 28-day experiments in the summer and fall of 2011, respectively: with and without significant aquatic plant communities, and with additional nutrients and harvesting of biomass. The removal of pharmaceuticals had half-lives that ranged from 0.23 to 9.4 days and 1.4 to 18 days during the summer and fall, respectively, and were predicted to occur primarily through photolysis and sorption. No overt toxicity from pharmaceuticals was observed for the common wetland macrophytes Myriophyllum sibiricum and Typha spp., but there was partitioning and bioaccumulation into macrophyte biomass. Treatment wetlands appeared to reduce pharmaceuticals and nutrients adequately, and may be a cost-effective means of treating rural wastewater.