Abstract
The last twenty years, the issue of PPCP contamination of the marine environment caused a growing concern among scientific community. PPCP enter the environment mainly through wastewater treatment plants (WTP), not able to remove completely these substances. The first objective of the thesis was to assess the current state of knowledge on the PPCP occurrence in the different compartments of the marine environment (seawater, sediments and organisms) through a literature review. The contamination of the marine environment is generally assessed by “one-time” measures in situ. However, such monitoring campaigns are time-consuming and costly. Some approaches based on the determination of the predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) could be applied alternatively or complementarily to in situ measures. The PEC calculation is the first step of environmental risk assessment (ERA), to assess the exposure of non target organisms to these substances. However, this estimation needs to be refined to be accurate, by integrating site-specific information. The second aim of the thesis was to propose refined PEC calculation methodologies of pharmaceuticals and their metabolites in a coastal zone using an adapted hydrodynamic model. Two model compounds were chosen, carbamazepine and venlafaxine. In order to assess the environmental risk of pharmaceuticals, it is needful to assess their effects on organisms. Nowadays, few ecotoxicological data are available on marine organisms, contrary to freshwater organisms. Regulatory concept of ERA is often based on a set of short term standard tests carried out at high concentrations. Other tests, implemented at lower organizational levels, are more sensitive to low exposure levels and are more relevant for the marine risk assessment. The last objective was to study the effects of diclofenac on PG production, based on its mode of action, on marine mussels exposed.