Combining an effect-based methodology with chemical analysis for antibiotics determination in wastewater and receiving freshwater and marine environment
Author
Serra-Compte, Albert
Pikkemaat, Mariël G.
Elferink, Alexander
Almeida, David
Campillo, Juan Antonio
Llorca, Marta
Álvarez-Muñoz, Diana
Barceló, Damià
Rodríguez-Mozaz, Sara
Publication date
2020-12-15ISSN
0269-7491
Abstract
Two different methodologies were combined to evaluate the risks that antibiotics can pose in the environment; i) an effect-based methodology based on microbial growth inhibition and ii) an analytical method based on liquid-chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The first approach was adapted and validated for the screening of four antibiotic families, specifically macrolides/β-lactams, quinolones, sulfonamides and tetracyclines. The LC-MS method was applied for the identification and quantification of target antibiotics; then, the obtained results were combined with ecotoxicological data from literature to determine the environmental risk. The two methodologies were used for the analysis of antibiotics in water samples (wastewater, river water and seawater) and biofluids (fish plasma and mollusk hemolymph) in two monitoring campaigns undertaken in the Ebro Delta and Mar Menor Lagoon (both in the Mediterranean coast of Spain). Both approaches highlighted macrolides (azithromycin) and quinolones (ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin) as the main antibiotics in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents with potential risk for the environment. However, no risk for the aquatic life was identified in the river, lagoon and seawater as antibiotic levels were much lower than those in WWTP effluents. Fish from Ebro River were the organisms presenting the highest antibiotic concentration when compared with bivalves (mussels) from the Mediterranean Sea and gastropods (marine snails) from the Mar Menor Lagoon. The effect-based methodology successfully determined antibiotic risk in wastewater, but its applicability was less clear in environmental waters such as seawater, due to its high detection limits. Improving sample preconcentration could increase the method sensibility. Overall, combination of both methodologies provides comprehensive insights in antibiotic occurrence and risk associated in areas under study.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Accepted version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
574 - General ecology and biodiversity
Pages
36
Publisher
Elsevier
Is part of
Environmental Pollution
Citation
Serra-Compte, Albert, Mariël G. Pikkemaat, Alexander Elferink, David Almeida, Jorge Diogène, Juan Antonio Campillo, Marta Llorca, Diana Álvarez-Muñoz, Damià Barceló, and Sara Rodríguez-Mozaz. 2021. "Combining An Effect-Based Methodology With Chemical Analysis For Antibiotics Determination In Wastewater And Receiving Freshwater And Marine Environment". Environmental Pollution 271: 116313. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.116313.
Grant agreement number
MINECO/Programa Estatal de I+D+I orientada a los retos de la sociedad/CTM2017-89701-C3-2-R/MICROPLASTICOS Y MICROCONTAMINANTES EN LA COSTA MEDITERRANEA. TOXICIDAD E IMPACTO AMBIENTAL Y EN LA SALUD HUMANA/PLASMED
MINECO-FEDER/Programa Estatal de I+D+I orientada a los retos de la sociedad/CTM2015-73179-JIN/ES/Identificación de xenobioticos bioacumulables en mejillón siguiendo un enfoque metabolomico: exposición humana y ambiental/XENOMETABOLOMIC
MINECO/ /RYC2014-16707/ES/ /
Program
Aigües Marines i Continentals
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2510]
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/