Hospital and Municipal Wastewater: Identification of Relevant Pharmaceutical Compounds

The interest in the presence of pharmaceutical compounds (PhC) in the environment has increased significantly because of their potential impact on human health. Many studies have demonstrated that PhCs can be found in hospital and municipal wastewaters, mainly due to the inefficiency of the treatment plants. However, the question is how significant the hospital contribution represents in the total municipal wastewater generated. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to perform a comparison between hospital and municipal wastewaters based on literature review, serving as a base for the implementation of more efficient management policies in hospitals and municipal wastewater treatment plants. Results indicate that there are some compounds found in higher concentrations in hospital effluents than in municipal inffluent, particularly the class of antibiotics.