Presence of pharmaceuticals in benthic fauna living in a small stream affected by effluent from a municipal sewage treatment plant Katerina Grabicova * , Roman Grabic, Martin Blaha, Vimal Kumar, Daniel Cerveny, Ganna Fedorova, Tomas Randak University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Zatisi 728/II, CZ-389 25 Vodnany, Czech Republic article info Article history: Received 7 May 2014 Received in revised form 8 September 2014 Accepted 13 September 2014 Available online 22 September 2014 Keywords: Bioaccumulation Hydropsyche Erpobdella Natural fish diet Contamination abstract Aquatic organisms can be affected not only via polluted water but also via their food. In the present study, we examined bioaccumulation of seventy pharmaceuticals in two benthic organisms, Hydropsyche sp. and Erpobdella octoculata in a small stream affected by the effluent from a sewage treatment plant (STP) in Prachatice (South Bohemia region, Czech Republic). Furthermore, water samples from similar locations were analyzed for all seventy pharmaceuticals. In water samples from a control locality situated upstream of the STP, ten of the seventy pharmaceuticals were found with average total concentrations of 200 ng L 1 . In water samples collected at STP-affected sites (downstream the STP 0 s effluent), twenty-nine, twenty-seven and twenty-nine pharmaceuticals were determined at average total concentrations of 2000, 2100 and 1700 ng L 1 , respectively. Six of the seventy pharmaceuticals (azithromycin, citalopram, clarithromycin, clotri- mazole, sertraline, and verapamil) were found in Hydropsyche. Four pharmaceuticals (clo- trimazole, diclofenac, sertraline, and valsartan) were detected in Erpobdella. Using evaluation criterion bioconcentration factor (BCF) is higher than 2000 we can assign azi- thromycin and sertraline as bioaccumulative pharmaceuticals. Even pharmaceuticals present at low levels in water were found in benthic organisms at relatively high con- centrations (up to 85 ng g 1 w.w. for azithromycin). Consequently, the uptake of phar- maceuticals via the food web could be an important exposure pathway for the wild fish population. © 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. 1. Introduction Effluent of municipal sewage treatment plants (STPs) contains numerous organic and inorganic pollutants due to insufficient removal efficiency during the treatment processes (Golovko et al., 2014a; Halling-Sorensen et al., 1998; Heberer, 2002; Pet- rovic et al., 2003). This incomplete removal broadly reflects the pharmaceuticals mixture to which fish and other aquatic or- ganisms are typically exposed (Verlicchi et al., 2012). * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ420 387774734. E-mail address: grabicova@frov.jcu.cz (K. Grabicova). Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/watres water research 72 (2015) 145 e153 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2014.09.018 0043-1354/© 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.