Water Use Efficiency

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Al-Quds University Water Use Efficiency Research Group

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Browsing Water Use Efficiency by Author "Mohammad Sobhe Samhan"

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    Assessment of some selected pharmacutical residues from Wastewater Treatment Plant in Palestine
    (Al-Quds University, 2024-05-19) Mohammad Sobhe Samhan; محمد صبحي عبد القادر سمحان
    Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) around the world, including those in Palestine, are typically not designed to remove micro-pollutants such as pharmaceuticals. This can lead to STPs being a significant source of pharmaceutical contamination in the environment, including surface waters, coastal waters, and ground waters. The presence of these compounds, combined with their potential adverse ecological effects, makes them a problematic pollutant. A study was conducted to analyze the distribution of pharmaceutical residues in five conventional STPs of varying sizes in Palestine. The study also aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and potential of treatment processes such as activated sludge and conventional wetlands, as well as advanced treatment processes called Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and Wetland systems, which can be used as post-treatment secondary treatment steps to complement existing STP configurations. The study found significant variability in the removal of pharmaceuticals in the five STPs. The targeted pharmaceuticals were Atenolol, Carbamazepine, Caffeine, Cotinine, Erythromycin, Lidocaine, Metronidazole, Paracetamol, and Ranitidine. The removal of pharmaceuticals in the Al-Bireh treatment plant ranged from 0% for Lidocaine to 99.9% for Caffeine. In the Nablus treatment plant, the removal of pharmaceuticals ranged from 5.5% for Lidocaine to 99.8% for Caffeine. In the Misilya treatment plant, the removal of pharmaceuticals ranged from 47.5% for Ranitidine to 100% for Caffeine. In the Al-Aroub treatment plant, the removal of pharmaceuticals ranged from 19.6% for Erythromycin to 91.0% for Metronidazole. In the Kharras treatment plant, the removal of pharmaceuticals ranged from 16.4% for Atenolol to 91.8% for Metronidazole. The study found that STPs show only moderate removal of pharmaceuticals at best, and that the conventional treatment processes applied cannot achieve satisfactory removal of pharmaceuticals. Although the literature presents optimization measures that can enhance pharmaceutical removal in conventional processes, it still does not result in effective removal of pharmaceuticals. In conclusion, this study highlights the importance of implementing advanced treatment processes such as NbS and Wetland systems as post-treatment steps in existing STP configurations to improve the removal of pharmaceuticals. Further research is needed to optimize these treatment processes and to better understand the ecological effects of pharmaceutical contamination in the environment.