Kulkarni Prachi, Olson Nathan D, Raspanti Greg A, Rosenberg Goldstein Rachel E, Gibbs Shawn G, Sapkota Amir, Sapkota Amy R
Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health, University of Maryland School of Public Health, 4200 Valley Drive, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, A.V. Williams Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Jun 21;14(6):668. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14060668.
Reclaimed water has emerged as a potential irrigation solution to freshwater shortages. However, limited data exist on the persistence of antibiotics in reclaimed water used for irrigation. Therefore, we examined the fate of nine commonly-used antibiotics (ampicillin, azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, linezolid, oxacillin, oxolinic acid, penicillin G, pipemidic acid, and tetracycline) in differentially treated wastewater and reclaimed water from two U.S. regions. We collected 72 samples from two Mid-Atlantic and two Midwest treatment plants, as well as one Mid-Atlantic spray irrigation site. Antibiotic concentrations were measured using liquid-chromatography- tandem mass spectrometry. Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests and Kruskal Wallis tests. Overall, antibiotic concentrations in effluent samples were lower than that of influent samples. Mid-Atlantic plants had similar influent but lower effluent antibiotic concentrations compared to Midwest plants. Azithromycin was detected at the highest concentrations (of all antibiotics) in influent and effluent samples from both regions. For most antibiotics, transport from the treatment plant to the irrigation site resulted in no changes in antibiotic concentrations, and UV treatment at the irrigation site had no effect on antibiotic concentrations in reclaimed water. Our findings show that low-level antibiotic concentrations persist in reclaimed water used for irrigation; however, the public health implications are unclear at this time.
再生水已成为解决淡水短缺问题的一种潜在灌溉解决方案。然而，关于用于灌溉的再生水中抗生素残留的数据有限。因此，我们研究了美国两个地区经过不同处理的废水和再生水中九种常用抗生素（氨苄青霉素、阿奇霉素、环丙沙星、利奈唑胺、苯唑西林、恶喹酸、青霉素G、吡哌酸和四环素）的去向。我们从大西洋中部地区和中西部地区的两个处理厂以及一个大西洋中部地区的喷灌场地采集了72个样本。使用液相色谱 - 串联质谱法测量抗生素浓度。数据采用曼 - 惠特尼 - 威尔科克森检验和克鲁斯卡尔 - 沃利斯检验进行分析。总体而言，出水样本中的抗生素浓度低于进水样本。与中西部地区的处理厂相比，大西洋中部地区的处理厂进水抗生素浓度相似，但出水抗生素浓度较低。在两个地区的进水和出水样本中，阿奇霉素的检测浓度（在所有抗生素中）最高。对于大多数抗生素，从处理厂到灌溉场地的输送过程中抗生素浓度没有变化，并且灌溉场地的紫外线处理对再生水中的抗生素浓度没有影响。我们的研究结果表明，用于灌溉的再生水中存在低水平的抗生素残留；然而，目前对公众健康的影响尚不清楚。
