Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Wastewaters in Barbados, West Indies

There have been few reports in the peer-reviewed literature on the levels of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in municipal wastewater from the Caribbean region. In this study of wastewater collected from two wastewater treatment plants in Barbados, caffeine and ibuprofen were detected at µg/L concentrations, whereas two steroid hormones (i.e. androstenedione, estrone) and several prescription pharmaceuticals were detected at ng/L concentrations. Among drugs of abuse, benzoylecgonine (i.e. metabolite of cocaine), MDMA (i.e. Ecstasy) and MDA (i.e. 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine) were present at the highest concentrations in untreated wastewater. Overall, these data show that there is potential impact in the marine environment in Barbados from CECs discharged into the coastal zone.