Chapter 1
Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care
Products, and Artificial Sweeteners
in Asian Groundwater: A Review
Keisuke Kuroda and Jun Kobayashi
1.1 Introduction
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are a group of contaminants
of emerging concern (CECs) in the aquatic environment, which have gained global
attention in the last 20 years because of their frequent occurrence and potentially
adverse effects on human health and aquatic ecosystems (aus der Beek et al. 2016;
Oaks et al. 2004; Schwarzenbach et al. 2006). The typical class of PPCPs found in the
aquatic environment includes antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, analgesics, anticonvulsants, β-blockers, stimulants, contrast media, cosmetics, fragrances, insect repellents, and other diverse chemicals used for human and veterinary uses (Daughton
and Ternes1999). Artificial sweeteners (ASs), which are sugar substitutes, have also
been ubiquitously found in the water environment, owing to high human consumption and the ASs’ high environmental persistence (Buerge et al. 2009; Kokotou et al.
2012). After consumption, both PPCPs and ASs are typically disposed of in wastewater via toilets, sinks, or bathrooms, and transported to wastewater treatment plants
(WWTPs). There, because conventional WWTPs can only partly remove these compounds, their residues are discharged into receiving waters (Heberer 2002; Lange
et al. 2012; Tambosi et al. 2010; Tran et al. 2018). There are also direct pathways
of PPCPs and ASs into the water environment, such as sewage disposal, septic tank
leakage, leakage from sewerage systems, livestock breeding, and fertilization (Sui
et al. 2015).
K. Kuroda (B)
Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Toyama Prefectural University, 5180,
Kurokawa, Imizu-City, Toyama 9390398, Japan
e-mail: kuroda@pu-toyama.ac.jp
J. Kobayashi
Faculty of Environmental & Symbiotic Science, Prefectural University of Kumamoto, 3-1-100,
Tsukide, Higashi-Ku, Kumamoto 8628502, Japan
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Kumar et al. (eds.), Contaminants in Drinking and Wastewater Sources,
Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4599-3_1
3
Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care
Products, and Artificial Sweeteners
in Asian Groundwater: A Review
Keisuke Kuroda and Jun Kobayashi
1.1 Introduction
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are a group of contaminants
of emerging concern (CECs) in the aquatic environment, which have gained global
attention in the last 20 years because of their frequent occurrence and potentially
adverse effects on human health and aquatic ecosystems (aus der Beek et al. 2016;
Oaks et al. 2004; Schwarzenbach et al. 2006). The typical class of PPCPs found in the
aquatic environment includes antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, analgesics, anticonvulsants, β-blockers, stimulants, contrast media, cosmetics, fragrances, insect repellents, and other diverse chemicals used for human and veterinary uses (Daughton
and Ternes1999). Artificial sweeteners (ASs), which are sugar substitutes, have also
been ubiquitously found in the water environment, owing to high human consumption and the ASs’ high environmental persistence (Buerge et al. 2009; Kokotou et al.
2012). After consumption, both PPCPs and ASs are typically disposed of in wastewater via toilets, sinks, or bathrooms, and transported to wastewater treatment plants
(WWTPs). There, because conventional WWTPs can only partly remove these compounds, their residues are discharged into receiving waters (Heberer 2002; Lange
et al. 2012; Tambosi et al. 2010; Tran et al. 2018). There are also direct pathways
of PPCPs and ASs into the water environment, such as sewage disposal, septic tank
leakage, leakage from sewerage systems, livestock breeding, and fertilization (Sui
et al. 2015).
K. Kuroda (B)
Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Toyama Prefectural University, 5180,
Kurokawa, Imizu-City, Toyama 9390398, Japan
e-mail: kuroda@pu-toyama.ac.jp
J. Kobayashi
Faculty of Environmental & Symbiotic Science, Prefectural University of Kumamoto, 3-1-100,
Tsukide, Higashi-Ku, Kumamoto 8628502, Japan
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Kumar et al. (eds.), Contaminants in Drinking and Wastewater Sources,
Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4599-3_1
3