Preliminary Investigation into Quantitation of Pharmaceuticals in Lake Victoria Sediments : Development of a Method for Analysis of 11 Pharmaceuticals

Abstract: Although Lake Victoria is threatened by pollution there is a lack of knowledge about pharmaceuticals contaminants drained into the lake from large cities bordering the lake. Hence, the purpose of this project was to develop, validate and apply a method for analysis of pharmaceutical compounds accumulating in the Lake Victoria sediments. A simple quantitative method for 11 pharmaceuticals combining accelerated solvent extraction, solid phase extraction, trimethylsilylation derivatization, and gas chromatography mass spectrometry was developed, partly validated, and applied to 18 surface sediments and a sediment core dated using the 210Pb method. The results showed the presence of the pharmaceuticals estriol, gemfibrozil, metoprolol, ketoprofen, naproxen, 17α-ethinylestradiol and estrone concentrated around the regions Napoleon Gulf and Thurston Bay with accumulation rates decreasing towards the top of the sediment core. Nonetheless, a randomness in the distribution of these compounds behooves a systematic assessment investigating not only the provenance of these compounds but also further investigations to errors meaning that this study should be treated as a preliminary investigation.