# Plaaben Compounds--Part I: An Overview of Their Characteristics, Detection, and Impacts
## 5 Paraben Detection
### Detection in Water Soruces
#### 5.1.1 Paraben Detection in WWTPs  
Some authors emphasize the discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater effluents as the main route for the appearance of parabens in nature. Additionally, other authors report discharge of parabens as a result of an inefficient treatment of wastewater treatment plants. Few authors have studied the detection of several CECs, such as parabens, in WWTP water samples from different stations located around the globe. Table 4 elaborates on some of these studies, where it is possible to see, in general, that the stations allow the emission of parabens to water resources, but also, it is possible to see that some treatment plants can remove parabens. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Local**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Detection Source**} & **Influent Range of** & **Effluent Range of** & \multirow{2}{*}{**Reference**} \\  & & **Concentration/[ng/L]** & **Concentration/[ng/L]** & & \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain} & & MP: 1926–5138 & MP: \textless{}1.11–1.5 & \multirow{5}{*}{} \\  & & EP: 452–549 & EP: \textless{}0.34 & \\  & & i-PP: \textless{}0.38–4.6 & i-PP: \textless{}0.38 & \\  & & n-PP: 1147–1302 & n-PP: \textless{}0.28 & \\  & & i-BuP: 83.6–89.1 & i-BuP: \textless{}0.12 & \\  & & n-BuP: 150–181 & n-BuP: \textless{}0.21–3.6 & \\  & & BeP: \textless{}0.2 & BeP: \textless{}0.2 & \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain} & & MP: 524–3259 & MP: \textless{}03–112 & \multirow{5}{*}{} \\  & & NACE-DAD & EP: 187–202 & EP: 0.0–30 & \\  & & NACE-DAD-LVSS & PP: 756–904 & PP: 0.0–44 & \\  & & BeP: 0–655 & BuP: \textless{}25–83 & \\  & & & BeP: 0.0–90 & \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{Valencia, Spain} & & MP: 334 & \multirow{5}{*}{} \\  & & EP:72 & & \\  & & PP: 163 & & \\  & & BuP: 15 & & \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{Leipzig, Germany} & & MP: \textless{}6.17 & MP: \textless{}6.17 & \multirow{5}{*}{} \\  & & iPP: \textless{}2.14 & iPP: \textless{}2.14 & \\  & & nPP: 502 & nPP: \textless{}13.74 & \\  & & BuP: \textless{}3.55 & BuP: \textless{}3.55 & \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{Spain} & & MP: 9.0–157 & MP: 0–40 & \multirow{5}{*}{} \\  & & EP: 14–814 & EP: 0–6.8 & \\  & & PP: 16–913 & PP: 0–24 & \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{South Wales, United Kingdom} & & MP: 661–15,646 & MP: \textless{}3–155 & \multirow{5}{*}{} \\  & & EP: 192–1918 & EP: \textless{}0.6–69 & \\  & & PP: \textless{}2–1703 & PP: \textless{}1–95 & \\  & & BuP: \textless{}2–114 & BuP: \textless{}1 & \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{South Wales, United Kingdom} & & MP: 4550–30,688 & MP: \textless{}3–36 & \multirow{5}{*}{} \\  & & EP: 715–3312 & EP: \textless{}0.6–43 & \\ \cline{1-1}  & & PP: 820–8286 & PP: \textless{}1–84 & \\ \cline{1-1}  & & BuP: 274–1595 & BuP: \textless{}1–2 & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: Paraben detection in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). [PERSON] et al. (1937) detected parabens in WWTP influuent and effluent samples near Santiago de Compostela, Spain. This work suggests some paraben removal in the WWTP since a small fraction of parabens was emitted to the water ecosystems. [PERSON] et al. (2018) detected these compounds from influuent and effluent samples from a WWTP located in Leipzig, Germany, which revealed a poor capacity of conventional treatment. [PERSON] et al. (2019) studied the presence of parabens in influuents and effluents of two WWTPs from South Wales, United Kingdom. The results show that Cilfynydd station (equipped with trickling beds) removed about 98.23%, 93.55%, 94.15% and almost 100% of MP, PP, EP and BuP, respectively. For the Coselch WWTP (equipped with activated sludge), the removal rates were about 99.92%, 99.80%, 99.99%, 99.16% and 100% for the same parabens. Figure 1 and Table 4 present the range of paraben concentrations of the influuent and effluent samples from different WWTPs. In all the studies mentioned, it is possible to conclude that paraben abatement occurs in the analyzed WWTPs.