Occurrences, distribution and sources of Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) in the mangrove dominated estuaries in the central part of the Indian Sundarbans, a world heritage site.

This study aimed to provide the baseline report on the occurrence of five emerging contaminants namely Phenols, Triclosan, NSAIDs, Phthalate and Parabens under pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the surface water of Indian Sundarbans estuarine system. The emerging contaminants of PPCPs were investigated from the two estuaries in the central of Indian Sundarbans namely Thakuran and Matla covering entire stretch during post monsoon season using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Among the different groups of PPCPs the most abundant found to be Phenolics with mean concentration ranging from 230 to 4586 ng/L following Triclosan with mean concentration for both Thakuran and Matla ranging from 96 to 1885 ng/L. The surface water concentration of remaining PPCPs ranged widely; like for NSAIDs (290 to 791 ng/L), Phthalates (39-302 ng/L) and Parabens (21-263 ng/L). Among the different Phenolics derivatives the highest concentration was found for octyl phenol ranging 282.2 to 17590.1 ng/L followed by Ketoprofen ranging 614.6 to 2333.7 ng/L and both derivatives observed to be high in the seafront side of Matla estuary. For the Phthalates derivatives high concentration witnessed in upstream of Thakuran and Matla i.e., for Di-2-ethylhexylphthalate ranging from 60.5 to 494.8 ng/L while for Parabens derivatives high concentration observed in downstream of Thakuran i.e., Ethyl paraben ranging from 23.7 to 598.7 ng/L. The correlation of water quality parameters with different PPCPs helps to elucidate the source as Phthalates are positively correlated with DIN and DIP which clarifies its typical anthropogenic source from catchment areas, run off from domestic sewage and effluents. Significant spatial variation observed for PPCPs indicating persistence and long residence of these xenobiotics in the mangrove dominated estuaries of Indian Sundarbans.