Antibiotic and analgesic residues in the environment – Occurrence and ecological risk study from the Sunyani municipality, Ghana

The presence of five antibiotics (metronidazole, ciprofloxacin, amoxicillin, doxycycline, and chloramphenicol) and four analgesics (diclofenac, ibuprofen, paracetamol, and caffeine) were investigated in water and soil samples from the Sunyani municipality, Ghana. Liquid samples were collected from hospital effluents, sachet drinking water, municipal waterworks, river Tano, and dumpsite leachates, while soil samples were collected from dumpsites and municipal waterworks. All samples were prepared using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and analyzed via an HPLC- PDA method. All antibiotics analyzed, apart from metronidazole, were detected either in soil or water samples. Doxycycline and ciprofloxacin were present in almost all liquid samples. The investigated hospital effluents had antibiotic concentrations of up to 2.93 mg/L for doxycycline and 4.74 mg/L for ciprofloxacin. The highest concentration of any antibiotic found was 8.76 mg/L of amoxicillin in hospital effluents. The maximum concentration of analgesics in liquid samples analyzed was 3.20 mg/L (paracetamol) and 3.00 mg/kg (caffeine) in soil samples. Ecological risk assessment indicated that the pharmaceuticals pose a possible risk to some aquatic organisms. The findings from this study showed the presence of these pharmaceuticals at concentrations that could impact the ecosystem. Consistent monitoring of environmental levels and pursuing the development and implementation of a suitable remediation program is needed.