The occurrence of pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs in water resources is widely documented in Europe, North America and Asia. However, in South America, these studies are still incipient. The objective of this study was to screen and identify the presence of pharmaceuticals of various therapeutic classes, including illicit drugs such as cocaine and its metabolite benzoylecgonine, in urban drainage channels that flow into the bathing waters of Guaruja city, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Moreover, the ecological potential risks to the aquatic biota were also assessed. The water samples were collected from four beaches of Guaruja in two different points: in the urban drainage channels and in the nearby coast line. A total of 16 compounds were detected using liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry: carbamazepine (0.1-8.0 ng/L), caffeine (33.5-6550.0 ng/L), cocaine (0.2-30.3 ng/L), benzoylecgonine (0.9-278.0 ng/L), citalopram (0.2-0.4 ng/L), acetaminophen (18.3-391.0 ng/L), diclofenac (0.9-79.8 ng/L), orphenadrine (0.2-1.5 ng/L), atenolol (0.1-140.0 ng/L), propranolol (limit of detection: LOD-0.9 ng/L), enalapril (2.2-3.8 ng/L), losartan (3.6-548.0 ng/L), valsartan (19.8-798.0 ng/L), rosuvastatin (2.5-38.5 ng/L), chlortalidone (0.1-0.4 ng/L) and clopidogrel (0.1-0.2 ng/L). The hereby data also showed that five of these compounds, namely caffeine, acetaminophen, diclofenac, losartan and valsartan, could raise moderate to severe risks to aquatic organisms (algae, crustaceans and fishes). This study is the first report of the occurrence of several pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs in urban drainage channels that flow to the bathing waters in South America, and it is the first quantification of rosuvastatin, chlortalidone and clopidogrel in environmental marine waters of Latin America.
