Mapping the Environmental Risk of Antibiotic Contamination by Using Multi‐Criteria Decision Analysis

Abstract

Veterinary antibiotics have widely been used for promoting animal health, especially in the last few decades. As a result of application of manure on agricultural lands, leaching of antibiotics from manure to soil and antibiotic transport via runoff may cause both soil and water quality degradation. Moreover, an increased antibiotic concentration in soil stimulates the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment. The aim of this study was to develop environmental risk maps for the Marmara Region by taking into account the antibiotic transport from the pasture lands. By using geographical information systems, the region was divided into manageable modelling units according to different topographical and hydrodynamic characteristics. A storm water management model was applied for runoff prediction. The transport of previously analyzed antibiotics in the region was determined by using an exposure model developed by the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, the Netherlands. The environmental risk of antibiotics was mapped by undertaking a multi‐criteria decision analysis approach for all pasture lands. The risk maps showed that the potential risk of antibiotic transport from pasture lands is moderate across the Marmara Region, however, a high level of risk prevailed in some areas, particularly in Balıkesir.

Global trends of antibiotics research: comparison using network analysis to map the tendencies of antibiotics in water, soil and sediment

“…The environmental risk of antibiotics was mapped by undertaking a multicriteria decision analysis approach for all pasture lands, which indicated that the potential risk of antibiotic transport from pasture lands is moderate across the Marmara Region, and a high level of risk prevailed in some areas, particularly in Balikesir (Küçükdoğan et al . 2015). Some researchers started to focus on risk assessment protocols for antibiotics and resistant bacteria, based on better systems for antibiotics detection and antibiotic resistance microbial source tracking (Baquero et al .…”

Spatial analysis of antimicrobial resistance in the environment. A systematic review

“…Three studies were based on estimates of livestock-related pollution and one publication used various datasets in an exploratory study (Chique et al, 2019). Kucukdogan et al (2015) used secondary sample data and estimated variables. The study locations at the smaller scales were peri-urban (n=3), urban (n=1), situated in the vicinity of urban surface waters (n=1), in a setting of wild animal sanctuaries (n=1) and an enclosed agricultural research facility (n=1).…”

“…Several articles described possible influencing factors with risk for confounders, such as currents and hydrodynamic transport in a lake, which are difficult to predict (Czekalski et al, 2014), water flow dynamics differing between water bodies (Bueno et al, 2021) and the transport of aerosols that fluctuates depending on local variations (Ginn et al, 2021). Kucukdogan et al (2015) argue that subjective decisions on ranking criteria for risk models have an uncertain effect.…”

“…The authors of two of the included articles used the term "macro" to describe the study area: Chique et al (2019) who included four counties in Ireland and Bueno et al (2021), whose study covered the State of Minnesota. Five additional studies fitted the macro-scale definition: Brazil (Yopasa-Arenas and Fostier, 2018), the European Union (de la Torre et al, 2012), the Marmara Region of Turkey (Kucukdogan et al, 2015), different areas in Chile (Sacristán et al, 2020) and (again) the State of Minnesota (Miller et al, 2020). Three author groups also studied smaller areas within a larger "macro" extent: Bueno et al, 2021and Chique et al, 2019 The remaining five articles used considerably smaller study areas.…”

“…Three studies sampled soil, two wild animal excrement, two sediments, one aerosols and one water (Table 1). One of the studies included data on manure and soil contamination (Kucukdogan et al, 2015). The number of sampling sites per km 2 was mostly below one km 2 (Table 1).…”