Potential of constructed wetlands microcosms for the removal of veterinary pharmaceuticals from livestock wastewater

The aim of the present work was to evaluate, at microcosm level, the capacity of constructed wetlands (CWs) to remove veterinary pharmaceutical compounds, from wastewater. Results indicated that CWs have potential to mitigate the release of veterinary drugs, namely enrofloxacin (ENR, a fluoroquinolone) and tetracycline (TET, tetracyclines family). Removal efficiencies of 94% and 98% where achieved for TET and ENR, respectively, when treating pigfarm wastewater effluent doped at 100 μg L−1 drug level, along twelve weeks. Occurrence of adsorption of the drugs to CWs substrate may be the predominant mechanism for ENR, although for TET there are signs that degradation is also occurring.