Fate of drugs during wastewater treatment

• Appraisal of analytical methodologies for drug-fate determination.
• Removal of drugs in activated sludge examined.
• Reviews fate and removal of pharmaceuticals in tertiary processes.
• Biological and chemical degradation pathways outlined.
• Future analytical requirements for further fate-evaluation highlighted.

Recent trends in the determination of pharmaceutical drugs in wastewaters focus on the development of rapid multi-residue methods. This review addresses recent analytical trends in drug determination in environmental matrices used to facilitate fate studies. Analytical requirements for further fate evaluation and tertiary process selection and optimization are also discussed.