Presence Of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatories In Brazilian Semiarid Waters

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) act as antipyretics, analgesics and anti-inflammatories. Among them, diclofenac and ibuprofen are the most consumed drugs worldwide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some NSAIDs, such as dipyrone and paracetamol, have been used to alleviate the symptoms of the disease, causing an increase in the concentrations of these drugs in water. However, due to the low concentration of these compounds in drinking water and groundwater, few studies have been carried out on the subject, especially in Brazil. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the contamination of the surface water, groundwater, and water treated with diclofenac, dipyrone, ibuprofen, and paracetamol at 3 cities (Orocó, Santa Maria da Boa Vista and Petrolândia) in the Brazilian semiarid region, in addition to analyzing the removal of these drugs by conventional water treatment (coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection) in stations to each city. All drugs analyzed were detected in surface and treated waters. In groundwater, only dipyrone was not found. Dipyrone was seen in surface water with a maximum concentration of 1858.02 μg.L −1 , followed by ibuprofen (785.28 μg.L −1 ), diclofenac (759.06 μg.L −1 ) and paracetamol (533.64 μg.L −1 ). The high concentrations derive from the increased consumption of these substances during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the conventional water treatment, the maximum removal of diclofenac, dipyrone, ibuprofen and paracetamol was 22.42%; 3.00%; 32.74%; and 1.58%, respectively, which confirms the inefficiency of this treatment in removing drugs. The variation in removal rate of the analyzed drugs is due to the difference in the hydrophobicity of the compounds. Graphical Abstract