The Science of the total environment
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Sci. Total Environ. · Jan 2017
Occurrence of new psychoactive substances in wastewater of major Chinese cities.
New psychoactive substances have become increasingly popular across the globe in recent years, which may cause certain public health issues. In this work, sewage-based epidemiology was applied to examine the use of two synthetic cathinones, mephedrone and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), and three piperazines, benzylpiperazine (BZP), trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine (TFMPP), and 1-(3-Chlorophenyl)piperazine (mCPP), across China. Influent wastewater samples were collected from 36 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in 18 major cities that cover all the geographic regions of the country. ⋯ No clear geographic pattern in BZP occurrence in wastewater was identified. Since BZP in wastewater may also come from its legal sources, whether widespread occurrence of BZP means widespread abuse is yet to be confirmed. Apparent removal of MDPV by wastewater treatment was low (<25%), whereas removal of BZP was nearly complete (typically>95%).