Monitoring of Emerging Contaminants in Selected Wastewater Treatment Works Around Bloemfontein, South Africa: Initiative for Environmental Protection

The study monitored the occurrence of emerging contaminants such as acetaminophen, carbamazepine, ibuprofen, triclosan, atrazine, metolachlor, simazine, terbuthylazine, 17-alpha-ethinyl-estadiol, progesterone, testosterone and estradiol in selected wastewater treatment works (influent and effluent) around Bloemfontein during autumn season. Samples collected from influent (n = 3) and effluent (n = 3) were analysed by high performance liquid chromatography. To assess the performance of wastewater treatment works in removing the targeted compounds the removal efficiency (%) method was used. The average concentration of acetaminophen, carbamazepine, ibuprofen, triclosan, atrazine, metolachlor, simazine, terbuthylazine, 17-alpha-ethinyl-estadiol, progesterone, testosterone and estradiol in influent samples were 28.15 μg/ml, 0.35 μg/ml, 7.95 μg/ml, 0.62 μg/ml, 0.04 μg/ml, 0.03 μg/ml, 0.15 μg/ml, 0.04 μg/ml, 37.53 μg/ml,