The presence of compounds from the Personal Care Products group in swimming pool water

The global production of several thousands of Personal Care Products (PCPs) every year makes the release of PCPs to the environment an unavoidable by-product of a modernized lifestyle. Multiple studies have detected PCPs worldwide in various aquatic environments, including swimming pools. In the presented work, the concentrations of three selected compounds from the PCPs group were examined in 15 swimming pools with different functions. The aim of the study was to show the influence of various factors on the concentration levels of selected micropollutants. Two UV filters: BP-3 (oxybenzone), BP-8 (dioxybenzone) and one antioxidant BTH (dibutylhydroxytoluene) were selected for the research. The extraction of micropollutants from the swimming pool water matrix was carried out by Solid Phase Extraction (SPE). The extracts were analyzed using a gas chromatograph (GC) coupled to the mass detector (MS). BHT was the most common compound. Its concentration ranged from 3.8 ng/L to 5.5 ng/L. The most rarely occurring compound was BP-3. The concentration of this compound varied the most, from 18.5 ng/L to 1178.6 ng/L. BP-8 was present in 10 from 15 tested pools at the concentration level of 49.9-226.9 ng/L. The frequency of occurrence characterizing different micropollutants from PCPs group was higher in recreational pools than in sports pools. It was also observed that the applied water treatment technology may affect the presence of Personal Care Products in the swimming pool water. No impact of basic water quality parameters on the levels of tested pharmaceuticals has been shown in this research.