Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8870
Title: The pharmaceutical use of permethrin: Sources and behavior during municipal sewage treatment
Authors: Turner, T
Cartmell, E
Lester, JN
Casse, F
Comber, SDW
Scrimshaw, MD
Keywords: Wastewater;Permethrin;Adsorption;Sources;Biodegradation;Solids Retention Time
Issue Date: 2011
Publisher: Springer
Citation: Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 61(2), 193 - 201, 2011
Abstract: Permethrin entered use in the 1970s as an insecticide in a wide range of applications, including agriculture, horticultural, and forestry, and has since been restricted. In the 21st century, the presence of permethrin in the aquatic environment has been attributed to its use as a human and veterinary pharmaceutical, in particular as a pedeculicide, in addition to other uses, such as a moth-proofing agent. However, as a consequence of its toxicity to fish, sources of permethrin and its fate and behavior during wastewater treatment are topics of concern. This study has established that high overall removal of permethrin (approximately 90%) was achieved during wastewater treatment and that this was strongly dependent on the extent of biological degradation in secondary treatment, with more limited subsequent removal in tertiary treatment processes. Sources of permethrin in the catchment matched well with measured values in crude sewage and indicated that domestic use accounted for more than half of the load to the treatment works. However, removal may not be consistent enough to achieve the environmental quality standards now being derived in many countries even where tertiary treatment processes are applied.
Description: This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
URI: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00244-010-9615-1
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/8870
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00244-010-9615-1
ISSN: 0090-4341
Appears in Collections:Environment
Institute for the Environment

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