Use of the chiral pharmaceutical propranolol to identify sewage discharges into surface waters

The discharge of relatively small volumes of untreated sewage is a source of wastewater-derived contaminants in surface waters that is often ignored because it is difficult to discriminate from wastewater effluent. To identify raw sewage discharges, we analyzed the two enantiomers of the popular chiral pharmaceutical, propranolol, after derivitization to convert the enantiomers to diastereomers. The enantiomeric fraction (the ratio of the concentration of one of its isomers to the total concentration) of propranolol in the influent of five wastewater treatment plants was 0.50 +/- 0.02, while after secondary treatment it was 0.42 or less. In a laboratory study designed to simulate an activated sludge municipal wastewater treatment system, the enantiomeric fraction of propranolol decreased from 0.5 to 0.43 as the compound underwent biotransformation. In a similar system designed to simulate an effluent-dominanted surface water, the enantiomeric fraction of propranolol remained constant as it underwent biotransformation. Analysis of samples from surface waters with known or suspected discharges of untreated sewage contained propranolol with an enantiomeric fraction of approximately 0.50 whereas surface waters with large discharges of wastewater effluent contained propranolol with enantiomeric fractions similar to those observed in wastewater effluent. Measurement of enantiomers of propranolol may be useful in detecting and documenting contaminants related to leaking sewers and combined sewer overflows.