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Article
Presence of Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli in Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents Utilized as Water Reuse for Irrigation
Water
  • Asli Aslan, Georgia Southern University, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health
  • Zach A. Coles, Georgia Southern University, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health
  • Anunay Bhattacharya, Georgia Southern University, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health
  • Oghenekpaobor Oyibo, Georgia Southern University, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-18-2018
DOI
10.3390/w10060805
Abstract

Providing safe water through water reuse is becoming a global necessity. One concern with water reuse is the introduction of unregulated contaminants to the environment that cannot be easily removed by conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The occurrence of ampicillin, sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin, and tetracycline-resistant Escherichia coli through the treatment stages of a WWTP (raw sewage, post-secondary, post-UV and post-chlorination) was investigated from January to May 2016. The highest concentrations of antibiotic resistant E. coli in the effluent were detected in April after rainfall. Ampicillin-resistant E. coli was the most common at the post UV and chlorination stages comprising 63% of the total E. coli population. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) analysis showed that one in five isolates was resistant to three or more antibiotics, and the majority of these E. coli were resistant to ampicillin, followed by sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin. The highest MIC was detected at the finished water after application of multiple disinfection methods. Tetracycline resistance was the least observed among others, indicating that certain drug families may respond to wastewater treatment differently. Currently, there are no policies to enforce the monitoring of antibiotic-resistant pathogen removal in WWTP. Better guidelines are needed to better regulate reuse water and prevent health risk upon exposure to antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Comments

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Citation Information
Asli Aslan, Zach A. Coles, Anunay Bhattacharya and Oghenekpaobor Oyibo. "Presence of Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichia coli in Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluents Utilized as Water Reuse for Irrigation" Water Vol. 10 Iss. 6 (2018) p. 805 - 816 ISSN: 2073-4441
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/asli_aslan/189/