Suitability of passive sampling for the monitoring of pharmaceuticals in Finnish surface waters

The occurrence of five pharmaceuticals, consisting of four anti-inflammatory and one antiepileptic drug, was studied by passive sampling and grab sampling in northern Lake Päijänne and River Vantaa. The passive sampling was performed by using Chemcatcher® sampler with a SDB-RPS Empore disk as a receiving phase. In Lake Päijänne, the sampling was conducted during summer 2013 at four locations near the discharge point of a wastewater treatment plant and in the years 2013 and 2015 at four locations along River Vantaa. The samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. The concentrations of carbamazepine, diclofenac, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, and naproxen in Lake Päijänne determined by passive sampling ranged between 1.4–2.9 ng L −1 , 15–35 ng L −1 , 13–31 ng L −1 , 16–27 ng L −1 , and 3.3–32 ng L −1 , respectively. Similarly, the results in River Vantaa ranged between 1.2–40 ng L −1 , 15–65 ng L −1 , 13–33 ng L −1 , 16–31 ng L −1 , and 3.3–6.4 ng L −1 . The results suggest that the Chemcatcher passive samplers are suitable for detecting pharmaceuticals in lake and river waters.