Occurrence and spatial distribution of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the aquatic environment, their characteristics, and adopted legislations

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) residues are known to occur widely in the aquatic environments of industrialized and developing countries. Considerable progress has been made regarding to study of their exposure and distribution in aquatic environment. The spatial distribution and transformation of PPCPs have been investigated in the aquatic systems of different countries covering the five UN regions. As a result, the objectives of this review are focused on: (a) the global occurrence of PPCPs residues in aquatic systems, particularly in drinking/tap water, surface water, groundwater, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), (b) widely prescribed pharmaceutical classes such as antibiotics, antidepressants, β-blockers, lipid regulators, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), etc. due to their potential adverse influences on the aquatic ecosystems and human health, (c) the spatial distribution of PPCPs in water bodies based on recently published data, (d) different regions in the world (e.g., USA, China, and Mediterranean basin) as case studies of contaminated areas, (e) the relation of occurrences with specific characteristics of frequently detected compounds, (f) the legislation and regulations implemented by countries/states governments were summarized and discussed, and finally, (g) future perspectives for research on PPCPs in the aquatic environment, which are explained regarded to the research gaps in current knowledge. The findings of this review indicate that the concentrations of PPCPs in the influents and effluents of WWTPs of the selected regions are much higher than in other water matrices. Additionally, there are significant variations in PPCPs concentrations between different countries and regions due to certain reasons.