Issues of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Aquatic Environments: A Review Study †

Abstract

The quality of wastewater greatly affects the aquatic environment. Currently, a significant amount of emerging pollutants are entering wastewater in the form of pharmaceutical contaminants, industrial chemicals, pesticides, toxins, etc. However, conventional wastewater treatment processes at WWTPs are not effective enough for these emerging pollutants. Therefore, emerging pollutants represent a significant source of wastewater pollution and associated pollution of surface water and even drinking water. The main sources of pharmaceutical contaminants are analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs, and of these, the most common in wastewater are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The aim is to provide a comprehensive review of the available information on NSAIDs in the aquatic environment, i.e., their occurrence, effects on the environment, formation of main metabolites, and methods of NSAID removal, with a focus on current trends and possible directions for future research.