Prediction of carbamazepine in sewage treatment plant effluents and its implications for control strategies of pharmaceutical aquatic contamination

Carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most frequently detected pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) in water bodies. In this study, its concentrations in the STP effluents in 68 countries/regions are predicted with a model based on the sale volume, the water consumption, the disposal rate, the excretion rate, and the removal efficiency by the sewage system. The prediction results demonstrate a global aquatic contamination of CBZ. However, the contamination is unbalanced: most of developed economics have a concentration above 500 ng L−1. The prediction model also provides some implications on the control strategies of pharmaceutical aquatic contamination, including upgrading STPs, urine separation, waste pharmaceuticals collection, environmentally labeling pharmaceuticals, and green pharmacy. Those strategies are discussed in the context of currently available literature information.