Assignment Task:
Environmental fate of medications Medications can enter wastewater management systems either through human excretions or through improper disposal. Many medications are not effectively treated by current wastewater management processes and therefore are discharged by wastewater treatment plants. Antidepressants are some of the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States, and many antidepressants are not effectively managed by wastewater treatment plants. a. A wastewater treatment plant discharges to Boulder Creek in Colorado at a rate of 64 million L/day, and the stream flow, upstream of the wastewater discharge point, is 1110 L/s. If the concentration of the antidepressant venlafaxine (Effexor) measured in the creek water is 10 ng/L, what is the mass discharged per day from the wastewater treatment plant, assuming that there are no sources other than the wastewater treatment plant, and assuming that the drug rapidly equilibrates among sediment, fish, and water? What is the concentration of the medication in the wastewater treatment plant effluent? BCF = 40.27 KOC = 3.162 Organic sediment = 15 ppm Biota concentration = 5 g/100 m3 b. A man fishing near the outflow point of Boulder Creek eats 0.2 kg of fish from the creek. How much venlafaxine will he ingest?