Environmental Exposure and Risk Assessment of Fluoroquinolone Antibacterial Agents in Wastewater and River Water of the Glatt Valley Watershed, Switzerland

Abstract

The mass flows of fluoroquinolone antibacterial agents (FQs) were investigated in the aqueous compartments of the Glatt Valley Watershed, a densely populated region in Switzerland. The major human-use FQs consumed in Switzerland, ciprofloxacin (CIP) and norfloxacin (NOR), were determined in municipal wastewater effluents and in the receiving surface water, the Glatt River. Individual concentrations in raw sewage and in final wastewater effluents ranged from 255 to 568 ng/L and from 36 to 106 ng/L, respectively. In the Glatt River, the FQs were present at concentrations below 19 ng/L. The removal of FQs from the water stream during wastewater treatment was between 79 and 87%. During the studied summer period, FQs in the dissolved fraction were significantly reduced downstream in the Glatt River (15-20 h residence time) (66% for CIP and 48% for NOR). Thus, after wastewater treatment, transport in rivers causes an additional decrease of residual levels of FQs in the aquatic environment. Refined predicted environmental concentrations for the study area compare favorably with the measured environmental concentrations (MEC) obtained in the monitoring study. Total measured FQ concentrations occurring in the examined aquatic compartments of the Glatt Valley Watershed were related to acute ecotoxicity data from the literature. The risk quotients obtained (MEC/PNEC < 1) following the recommendations of the European guidelines or draft documents suggest a low probability for adverse effects of the occurring FQs, either on microbial activity in WWTPs or on algae, daphnia, and fish in surface waters.

Occurrence and fate of eleven classes of antibiotics in two typical wastewater treatment plants in South China

“…Similar concentrations have also been observed in the wastewaters of other WWTPs in China (Gao et al, 2012;Jia et al, 2012;Leung et al, 2012;Li and Zhang, 2010;Xu et al, 2007) and other countries (Golet et al, 2003;Karthikeyan and Meyer, 2006;Lindberg et al, 2005;Watkinson et al, 2007). However, ciprofloxacin was found at lower concentrations than those reported previously in other countries (Golet et al, 2002(Golet et al, , 2003Yang et al, 2005), or at the lower end of those concentration ranges in Hong Kong (Li and Zhang, 2010) and Sweden (Lindberg et al, 2005). This suggests that ciprofloxacin is less commonly used in the study region.…”

Upconversion fluorescence resonance energy transfer—a novel approach for sensitive detection of fluoroquinolones in water samples

“…Its potential has been appropriately centralized for the treatment of respiratory diseases and bacterial infections both in human and farm animals [1][2][3]. However, prior reports show the extensive usage of this antibiotic for pharmaceutical purposes has resulted in a widespread contamination of environmental water [4][5][6][7][8][9]. In view that the chemicals could cause adverse effect on the aquatic vertebrates and organisms, and their increased level of bacterial resistance, more and more concerns arose on the potential risk on human health and aquatic ecosystem [10][11][12][13][14].…”

Effects of copper and aluminum on the adsorption of sulfathiazole and tylosin on peat and soil

“…Removal of antibiotics by conventional water treatment technologies is incomplete (Zoritaa et al, 2009). A considerable portion of antibiotics can reach the soil environment through application of fertilizers, sewage sludge, wastewater irrigation, or the discarding of out-of-date pharmaceutical prescriptions (Golet et al, 2002). Exposures to residues of antibiotics and their transformed products might cause a variety of adverse consequences, including acute and chronic toxicity, and microorganism antibiotic resistance, etc (Schmitt et al, 2006).…”

“…Currently, more concern is being paid to illustrate the environmental behavior and risks of antibiotics. Previous studies examined pH-dependent adsorption of antibiotics onto clays (Heberer, 2002), aluminum oxides (Zoritaa et al, 2009;Golet et al, 2002;Gu and Karthikeyan, 2005), amorphous iron oxides (Zoritaa et al, 2009), goethite (Golet et al, 2002), soil and soil minerals (Kolpin et al, 2002;Nowara et al, 1997), and carbon nanotubes (Wang et al, 2010). In addition to hydrophobic partitioning, antibiotics may be adsorbed via cation exchange and cation bridging (Trivedi and Vasudevan, 2007), surface complexation (Zoritaa et al, 2009;Golet et al, 2002), salting out effects (Zhou, 2006), and hydrogen bonding (Tolls, 2001).…”