Fate of antibiotics during municipal water recycling treatment processes

Municipal water recycling processes are potential human and environmental exposure routes for low concentrations of persistent antibiotics. While the implications of such exposure scenarios are unknown, concerns have been raised regarding the possibility that continuous discharge of antibiotics to t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water research (Oxford) 2010-08, Vol.44 (15), p.4295-4323
Main Authors: Le-Minh, N., Khan, S.J., Drewes, J.E., Stuetz, R.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advanced treatment
Anti-Bacterial Agents - isolation & purification
Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology
Antibiotics
Applied sciences
Bacteria
Bacteria - drug effects
Bacteria - growth & development
Biological and physicochemical phenomena
Contaminants
Drinking water
Drinking water and swimming-pool water. Desalination
Drug Resistance, Microbial
Environmental Monitoring
Exact sciences and technology
Filtration
Freshwater
General purification processes
Human
Humans
Natural water pollution
Other industrial wastes. Sewage sludge
Pharmaceutically active compounds
Pollution
Potable reuse
Public Health
Recycling
Recycling - methods
Tetracyclines
Wastes
Wastewater treatment
Wastewaters
Water Pollutants, Chemical - isolation & purification
Water Purification - methods
Water Supply - analysis
Water treatment and pollution
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Summary:Municipal water recycling processes are potential human and environmental exposure routes for low concentrations of persistent antibiotics. While the implications of such exposure scenarios are unknown, concerns have been raised regarding the possibility that continuous discharge of antibiotics to the environment may facilitate the development or proliferation of resistant strains of bacteria. As potable and non-potable water recycling schemes are continuously developed, it is imperative to improve our understanding of the fate of antibiotics during conventional and advanced wastewater treatment processes leading to high-quality water reclamation. This review collates existing knowledge with the aim of providing new insight to the influence of a wide range of treatment processes to the ultimate fate of antibiotics during conventional and advanced wastewater treatment. Although conventional biological wastewater treatment processes are effective for the removal of some antibiotics, many have been reported to occur at 10–1000 ng L −1 concentrations in secondary treated effluents. These include β-lactams, sulfonamides, trimethoprim, macrolides, fluoroquinolones, and tetracyclines. Tertiary and advanced treatment processes may be required to fully manage environmental and human exposure to these contaminants in water recycling schemes. The effectiveness of a range of processes including tertiary media filtration, ozonation, chlorination, UV irradiation, activated carbon adsorption, and NF/RO filtration has been reviewed and, where possible, semi-quantitative estimations of antibiotics removals have been provided.
ISSN:0043-1354
1879-2448
DOI:10.1016/j.watres.2010.06.020