Artificial sweeteners acesulfame and sucralose: from wastewater constituents to groundwater contaminants

Acesulfame and sucralose are non-nutritive sweeteners widely used as sugar substitutes in food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. As metabolically stable compounds, they are ubiquitous constituents of municipal wastewaters ultimately discharged into the aquatic environment. They belong to a new class of emerging environmental contaminants with potentially harmful effects on aquatic organisms. Acesulfame and sucralose are not removed in wastewater treatment, are re-sistant to degradation in the environment and, therefore, regarded as ideal indicators of sewage contamination. In order to assess the impact of untreated wastewater discharge on the quality of drinking water sources in Belgrade, the concentrations of artificial sweeteners acesulfame and sucralose in sewage wastewater, receiving river water and corresponding groundwater were in-vestigated. The samples were collected from three sewage canals in Belgrade, along with three samples of receiving water from the Danube and the Sava rivers. Considering the potential mobili-ty of the two sweeteners through the aquifer, two groundwater samples were also taken. All water samples were extracted and analyzed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry meth-od. Using the measured concentrations of two sweeteners in river and groundwater, as well as predicted no-effect concentrations (PNEC) for aquatic organisms, ecological risk assessment was performed. The results showed high concentrations of acesulfame and sucralose in all wastewater samples (2786–7488 ng L–1 and 1836–4756 ng L–1, respectively), abundance in all river water samples (51–76 ng L–1 and 68–206 ng L–1) and significant levels in groundwater samples (20 and 73 ng L–1, and 17 and 25 ng L–1). It was also determined that concentrations of the two sweeteners in river and groundwater do not pose ecotoxicological risk to aquatic organisms. However, the mere presence of wastewater constituents in groundwater raises concerns about the quality of drinking water sources.