Occurrence of Emerging Pollutants in Skudai River in Johor Bahru Region of Malaysia

Authors

  • Juhaizah Talib1,2, Azmi Aris1,2, Jafariah Jaafar3 , Zaiton Abd Majid3 , Ainul Syarmimi1

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37506/ijfmt.v14i3.10520

Keywords:

pharmaceutical, personal care products, styrene, endocrine disrupting chemical, Skudai River

Abstract

Increase in landuse development and human activities have significant influence on the occurrence of

emerging pollutants (EPs) in water bodies such as rivers. As rivers are the main source of water supply in

Malaysia, a study was conducted to determine the occurrence of EPs in one of the drinking water sources,

namely Skudai River. Samples were collected five times at eight sampling points from the upstream up to

the water intake of the river. Sample pre-treatment was performed by solid-phase extraction (SPE), whereas

the analyses of the EPs were performed by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LCMS-MS

QTOF). Results showed that about 50 compounds were detected and fall into categorise as pharmaceuticals,

Personal Care Products (PCPs), and Endocrine Disrupting Chemical (EDC). The most prevalent (75-100%)

compounds detected were of these categories, whereas the least (less than 40%) were mainly pharmaceuticals.

The concentration of styrene, a health-hazards EPs ranged from 45.11 to 203.48 µg/L with increasing trend

towards downstream of the river. Based on the landuse data of Skudai River Basin, the study concluded that

human activity, landuse, and environmental factors could possibly contribute to the presence of the EPs in

the river.

Author Biography

  • Juhaizah Talib1,2, Azmi Aris1,2, Jafariah Jaafar3 , Zaiton Abd Majid3 , Ainul Syarmimi1

    1 School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi, Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Baru,

    Malaysia, 2 Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Water Security (IPASA), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,

    81310 Skudai, Johor Baru, Malaysia, 3Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi,

    Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor Baru, Malaysia.

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Published

2020-07-30

How to Cite

Occurrence of Emerging Pollutants in Skudai River in Johor Bahru Region of Malaysia. (2020). Indian Journal of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, 14(3), 1098-1103. https://doi.org/10.37506/ijfmt.v14i3.10520