Antibiotic residues in final effluents of European wastewater treatment plants and their impact on the aquatic environment

Rodríguez-Mozaz, Sara; Vaz‐Moreira, Ivone; Giustina, Saulo Varela Della; Llorca, Marta; Barceló, Damià; Schubert, Sara; Berendonk, Thomas U.; Michael-Kordatou, I.; Fatta‐Kassinos, Despo; Martínez, José Luis; Elpers, Christian; Henriques, Isabel; Jaeger, Thomas; Schwartz, Thomas; Paulshus, Erik; O’Sullivan, Kristin; Pärnänen, Katariina; Virta, Marko; Thuy, Thi; Walsh, Fiona; Manaia, Célia M.

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2020.105733

Cited by 441 publications

(219 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Therefore, the risk for the environment and humans might actually be higher. The low impact of antibiotics to the environment in the present study is in agreement with other studies worldwide (Faleye et al 2019;Rodriguez-Mozaz et al 2020). If the default DF of 100 is used, the calculated RQ 2 for CLARI in algae showed 1 < RQ, which is considered to be high risk.…”

Section: Erasupporting

confidence: 91%

Occurrence of Antibiotics in Influent and Effluent from 3 Major Wastewater‐Treatment Plants in Finland

Kortesmäki

Östman

Meierjohann

et al. 2020

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Wastewater‐treatment plants (WWTPs) are regarded as one of the main sources of antibiotics in the environment. In the present study, the concentrations of multiple antibiotics and their metabolites belonging to 5 antibiotic classes were determined in 3 major Finnish WWTPs. An online solid phase extraction–liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method was used for the extraction and analysis of the compounds. The method was fully validated using real and synthetic wastewaters. Seven antibiotics and 3 metabolites were found in the analyzed samples. Sulfonamides were removed most efficiently, whereas macrolides usually showed negative removal efficiency during the treatment, which means that the concentrations for individual antibiotics determined in the effluent samples were higher than in the influent samples. Sulfadiazine was found at concentrations up to 1018 ng/L, which was the highest concentration of any of the detected antibiotics in influent. In the effluent samples, the highest mean concentration was found for trimethoprim (532 ng/L). The measured mass loads of the antibiotics and metabolites to the receiving waters ranged from 2 to 157 mg/d per 1000 population equivalent. The evaluated environmental risk assessment showed that clarithromycin and erythromycin might pose a risk to the environment. The present study further underlines the importance of implementing technology for efficient removal of xenobiotics during wastewater treatment. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:1774–1789. © 2020 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.

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Section: Erasupporting

confidence: 91%

Occurrence of Antibiotics in Influent and Effluent from 3 Major Wastewater‐Treatment Plants in Finland

Kortesmäki

Östman

Meierjohann

et al. 2020

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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“…Urban WWTPs are the most common pollution point sources in rivers [ 17 ] and their effects on various aspects of river ecology are well-known ([ 18 , 19 , 20 ]; among others). WWTPs are also a source of pathogens, including ARB, and drug residues, including antibiotics [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. It is then not surprising that WWTPs are considered hot spots for the acquisition and spread of ARB and ARGs in the receiving water bodies [ 23 , 25 , 26 , 27 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Urban Wastewater Discharge on the Abundance of Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli in Two Italian Rivers

Pantanella

Lekunberri

Gagliardi

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Background: Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are microbial factories aimed to reduce the amount of nutrients and pathogenic microorganisms in the treated wastewater before its discharge into the environment. We studied the impact of urban WWTP effluents on the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (AR-E. coli) in the last stretch of two rivers (Arrone and Tiber) in Central Italy that differ in size and flow volume. Methods: Water samples were collected in three seasons upstream and downstream of the WWTP, at the WWTP outlet, and at sea sites near the river mouth, and analyzed for the abundance of ARGs by qPCR and AR-E. coli using cultivation followed by disk diffusion assays. Results: For all studied genes (16S rRNA, intI1, sul1, ermB, blaTEM, tetW and qnrS), absolute concentrations were significantly higher in the Tiber than in the Arrone at all sampling sites, despite their collection date, but the prevalence of target ARGs within bacterial communities in both rivers was similar. The absolute concentrations of most ARGs were also generally higher in the WWTP effluent with median levels between log 4 and log 6 copies per ml but did not show differences along the studied stretches of rivers. Statistically significant site effect was found for E. coli phenotypic resistance to tetracycline and ciprofloxacin in the Arrone but not in the Tiber. Conclusions: In both rivers, diffuse or point pollution sources other than the studied WWTP effluents may account for the observed resistance pattern, although the Arrone appears as more sensitive to the wastewater impact considering its lower flow volume.

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“…Since current wastewater treatment techniques are unable to offer complete elimination of these compounds (Kümmerer et al, 2018;Rodriguez-Mozaz et al, 2020), our daily exposure to various antibiotics, biocides and their active metabolites in environment becomes inevitable. Pollutant input prevention at the production source complemented with wastewater treatment is crucial to ensure water safety (Kümmerer et al, 2018).…”

Section: Concluding Remarks and Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental side effects of the injudicious use of antimicrobials in the era of COVID-19

Usman

Farooq

Hanna

2020

Science of The Total Environment

113

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Antibiotic residues in final effluents of European wastewater treatment plants and their impact on the aquatic environment

Cited by 441 publications

References 53 publications

Occurrence of Antibiotics in Influent and Effluent from 3 Major Wastewater‐Treatment Plants in Finland

Occurrence of Antibiotics in Influent and Effluent from 3 Major Wastewater‐Treatment Plants in Finland

Effect of Urban Wastewater Discharge on the Abundance of Antibiotic Resistance Genes and Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli in Two Italian Rivers

Environmental side effects of the injudicious use of antimicrobials in the era of COVID-19

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