Environment International 140 (2020) 105733

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Environment International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envint

Antibiotic residues in final effluents of European wastewater treatment T

plants and their impact on the aquatic environment
⁎
Sara Rodriguez-Mozaza,b, , Ivone Vaz-Moreirac, Saulo Varela Della Giustinaa,b, Marta Llorcaa,b,d,
Damià Barcelóa,b,d, Sara Schuberte, Thomas U. Berendonke, Irene Michael-Kordatouf,
Despo Fatta-Kassinosf,g, Jose Luis Martinezh, Christian Elpersi, Isabel Henriquesj, Thomas Jaegerk,
Thomas Schwartzk, Erik Paulshusl, Kristin O'Sullivanl, Katariina M.M. Pärnänenm, Marko Virtam,
Thi Thuy Don, Fiona Walshn, Célia M. Manaiac
a
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Emili Grahit 101, 17003 Girona, Spain
b
Universitat de Girona, Girona, Spain
c
Universidade Católica Portuguesa, CBQF – Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina – Laboratório Associado, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Rua Diogo Botelho 1327,
4169-005 Porto, Portugal
d
Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental Chemistry, (IDAEA-CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, 08034, Barcelona, Spain
e
Technische Universität Dresden, Institute of Hydrobiology, Dresden, Germany
f
Nireas-International Water Research Centre, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, CY-1678 Nicosia, Cyprus
g
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, CY-1678 Nicosia, Cyprus
h
Centro Nacional de Biotecnología, CSIC, Darwin 3, 20049 Madrid. Spain
i
Aquantec GmbH, Am Zwinger 5, 76227 Karlsruhe, Germany
j
Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM, University of Aveiro) and Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra,
Calçada Martin de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal
k
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) – Campus North, Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG), P.O. Box 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
l
Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Food Safety and Infection Biology, Section of Microbiology, Immunology and
Parasitology, Post Box 8146 Dep., 0033 Oslo, Norway
m
Department of Microbiology, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
n
Department of Biology, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Handling Editor: Adrian Covaci A comprehensive monitoring of a broad set of antibiotics in the final effluent of wastewater treatment plants
(WWTPs) of 7 European countries (Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Cyprus, Germany, Finland, and Norway) was carried
out in two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). This is the first study of this kind performed at an international
level. Within the 53 antibiotics monitored 17 were detected at least once in the final effluent of the WWTPs, i.e.:
ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, enrofloxacin, orbifloxacin, azithromycin, clarithromycin, sulfapyridine, sulfamethox-
azole, trimethoprim, nalidixic acid, pipemidic acid, oxolinic acid, cefalexin, clindamycin, metronidazole, am-
picillin, and tetracycline. The countries exhibiting the highest effluent average concentrations of antibiotics were
Ireland and the southern countries Portugal and Spain, whereas the northern countries (Norway, Finland and
Germany) and Cyprus exhibited lower total concentration. The antibiotic occurrence data in the final effluents
were used for the assessment of their impact on the aquatic environment. Both, environmental predicted no
effect concentration (PNEC-ENVs) and the PNECs based on minimal inhibitory concentrations (PNEC-MICs) were
considered for the evaluation of the impact on microbial communities in aquatic systems and on the evolution of
antibiotic resistance, respectively. Based on this analysis, three compounds, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin and
cefalexin are proposed as markers of antibiotic pollution, as they could occasionally pose a risk to the en-
vironment. Integrated studies like this are crucial to map the impact of antibiotic pollution and to provide the
basis for designing water quality and environmental risk in regular water monitoring programs.

⁎
Corresponding author at: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Scientific and Technologic Park of the University of Girona, Emili Grahit 101, E-17003
Girona, Spain.
E-mail address: srodriguez@icra.cat (S. Rodriguez-Mozaz).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105733
Received 27 December 2019; Received in revised form 16 March 2020; Accepted 8 April 2020
0160-4120/ © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/).
S. Rodriguez-Mozaz, et al. Environment International 140 (2020) 105733

1. Introduction Spain, Ireland, Cyprus, Germany, Finland, and Norway) was sampled
twice (early Spring and early Autumn) in two consecutive years (2015
Antibiotics are a class of pharmaceutical active compounds with and 2016) and was monitored for 53 antibiotic residues belonging to 10
high usage and consumption worldwide. By definition, an antibiotic is a different therapeutic classes. The countries were selected following a
chemotherapeutic agent that specifically inhibits, by cell destruction or north-to-south gradient in the use of antibiotics as well as in the pre-
growth inhibition, the proliferation of bacteria (Kümmerer, 2009). valence of antibiotic resistance in clinical settings as reported in the
According to Kümmerer (2009) over 250 different chemical substances 2017 EARS-Net surveillance report (ECDC European Centre for Disease
are registered as antibiotics for human and/or animal health use Prevention and Control, 2017). The specific objectives of the study
globally. Based on the analysis of data from scientific literature and were: (i) to provide an overview of the presence and concentration of
national and regional surveillance systems from 71 countries over the antibiotics in final effluents of WWTPs located in different European
past 10 years, antibiotic use is growing steadily worldwide (30%), countries; (ii) to assess geographical and temporal trends about the
driven mainly by rising demand in low- and middle-income countries occurrence of these contaminants; (iii) to infer about the potential en-
(Gelband et al. 2015). This increase in the use of antibiotics and the vironmental and human health risk posed by antibiotic residues in final
awareness about their side effects have led to increasing concern re- treated wastewater effluents; and (iv) to propose robust analytical tools
garding their potentially detrimental effects in the environment. In and indicator compounds to be used in regular water-monitoring pro-
particular, it is suspected that their occurrence can accelerate resistance grams, hence making feasible the comparison of country-based studies.
spread in the environment (Bengtsson-Palme et al., 2018), with po-
tential implications on human health. According to the World Health 2. Materials and methods
Organization (WHO), antimicrobial resistance is a major challenge to
global human and animal health, food safety, and development today, 2.1. Sampling campaigns
with the perspective of aggravation in the upcoming years, if effective
measures are not implemented (World Health Organization, 2014). Four sampling campaigns were carried out in early Spring (March
Because of the intensive use of antibiotics for human, veterinary and 2015 and 2016) and early Autumn (October 2015 and September
agriculture purposes, these compounds are continuously released into 2016), suggested to correspond to the highest and the lowest peaks of
the environment from anthropogenic sources. In urban areas, waste- antibiotic consumption, respectively (Caucci et al., 2016; Sun et al.,
water treatment plants (WWTPs), when available, are among the main 2012). In each of the 4 sampling campaigns, 24-h composite samples
receptors of antibiotics, part of which persist after the treatment and were collected in 3 consecutive days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and
can be released into various environmental compartments (Michael Thursday) at the outlet of 13 urban WWTPs belonging to 7 European
et al., 2013). Several studies about the presence of antibiotics in countries (Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Ireland, Germany, Finland, and
WWTPs have been conducted in the last couple of decades. Most of Norway) (Fig. 1, Table S1). Two WWTPs were monitored in each
them have focused on a limited amount of compounds (between 2 and country except in Spain and Norway, where a single WWTP was sam-
33 target antibiotics). Further, studies comparing the situation in dif- pled. In Portugal, due to a problem in the WWTP PT1 in the sampling
ferent countries are nearly absent and, in the case that a single country campaign of March 2016, a third WWTP (PT3), located in the same
as China, Croatia, Sweden, Portugal, United Kingdom, and Greece is region, was sampled instead. General characteristics of the selected
analysed, a limited number of WWTPs, varying between 2 and 19 WWTPs are gathered in Table S2. For every campaign, data concerning
within each country has been studied (Gao et al., 2012; Johnson et al., weather conditions were collected for the 3 days of sampling and the
2017; Kosma et al., 2014; Lindberg et al., 2005; Pereira et al., 2015; day before (Table S3).
Senta et al., 2013; Wang et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2019). Among the All participants collected the samples on the same dates and
most comprehensive studies so far are those by Gracia-Lor et al. (2011), adopted a common protocol for sampling and sample processing (Gros
who monitored 26 antibiotics among other pollutants in 19 WWTPs in et al., 2013). Amber glass bottles pre-rinsed with ultrapure water were
Spain and Birošová et al. (2014), who monitored up to 33 antibiotics in used to collect ca. 200–250 mL wastewater from each of the WWTPs,
2 WWTPs in Slovakia. This type of monitoring studies permits the and transported at 4 °C to the laboratory for further sample pre-
evaluation of temporal and geographical trends in antibiotic occur-
rence. However, given the lack of standardized methodologies and
other technical biases, data reported in distinct studies are poorly
comparable. In this situation, transnational efforts constitute an es-
sential contribution for the establishment of environmental protection
guidelines that can be globally applied. To the authors’ knowledge such
international monitoring studies of antibiotics in WWTPs are not NO1 FI2 FI1
available, which is a major gap for implementing mitigation regula-
tions/procedures. Global monitoring programs would represent an IL2
important step forward on water protection worldwide, as they would IL1
contribute to compare country-specific scenarios, to provide the basis
DE2
for international action and also would allow assessing the progress DE1
achieved concerning any potential environmental protection action. In
fact, the results of environmental monitoring are of fundamental im-
PT1 PT3
portance to environmental management in general, as the drafting and
prioritization of environmental policies is based on the findings of en- PT2 ES1
vironmental monitoring (Helmer, 1994). The monitoring of antibiotic
contamination is particularly relevant given its association with anti-
biotic resistance, known to be highly heterogeneous at a global scale
(Hendriksen et al., 2019; Pärnänen et al., 2019). CYP1 CYP2
The current study was hence motivated by the need for water
monitoring at an international level to acquire reliable and comparable Fig. 1. Map of the 13 European wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) from
analytical data concerning antibiotics occurrence. With this aim, the where effluent wastewater was sampled. Portugal (PT), Spain (ES), Cyprus
final effluent of 13 WWTPs located in 7 European countries (Portugal, (CYP), Ireland (IL), Germany (DE), Finland (FI), Norway (NO).

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S. Rodriguez-Mozaz, et al. Environment International 140 (2020) 105733

treatment. the extract as internal standards. For an accurate quantification, con-

centrations were calculated by internal calibration using the isotope-
2.2. Reagents and chemicals labelled standards. Recovery values of the extraction method were
calculated in each occasion (each sampling campaign) and used to
Fifty-three antibiotics, distributed in 10 classes, were monitored: correct the quantification values obtained using these calibration
fluoroquinolones (n = 8), quinolones (n = 4), penicillins (n = 5), curves. To determine the recoveries, wastewater effluent was spiked in
cephalosporins (n = 6), macrolides (n = 6), tetracyclines (n = 4), triplicate with a standard mixture containing all antibiotics at a final
lincosamides (n = 2), sulfonamides (n = 15), a dihydrofolate reductase concentration of 10 ng/L. Recoveries were determined by comparing
inhibitor (n = 1), and nitroimidazole antibiotics (n = 2) (Table S4). All the initial concentrations after spiking with the concentrations obtained
antibiotic standards were of high purity grade (> 90%) and purchased after the whole SPE procedure. Method detection limits (MDL) and
from Sigma–Aldrich: tetracycline, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline, method quantification limits (MQL) were also determined in each
and lincomycin were purchased as hydrochloride salts; oxacillin, cefa- sampling campaign and for each antibiotic as the minimum detectable
zolin, cefotaxime, and cefapirin were acquired as sodium salts; peni- amount of compound with a signal-to-noise of 3 and 10, respectively.
cillin V and penicillin G as potassium salts; amoxicillin and ampicillin The analytical quality parameters MDL, MQL and recovery values (%)
were purchased as trihydrate salts; tylosin and doxycycline were ac- can be found in Table S4. The MDL achieved ranged from 5.31 ng/L up
quired as tartrate and hyclate salts, respectively. Isotopically labelled to 19.21 ng/L, whereas MQLs ranged from 17.72 to 46.91 ng/L. Con-
compounds, used as internal standards, were: ofloxacin-d3, cipro- cerning the extraction methodology, recoveries achieved for all target
floxacin-d8 (as hydrochloride hydrate salt), erythromycin-N,N-di- compounds ranged between 60 and 120%.
methyl 13C, ampicillin-15N, and ronidazole-d3, purchased from Sig-
ma–Aldrich, and azithromycin-d3, sulfamethoxazole-d4, and 2.3.2. Chemical analysis
lincomycin-d3, from Toronto Research Chemicals (Ontario, Canada). The chemical analysis was carried out with an ultra-performance
Sulfadimethoxine-d6 and sulfadoxine-d3, used as surrogate standards, liquid chromatography system (UPLC) using an Acquity HSS T3 column
were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich. (50 mm × 2.1 mm i.d., 1.7 μm particle size), both from Waters
Individual stock standard solutions, as well as isotopically labelled Corporation (Mildford, MA, USA). The volume of sample injected was
internal standard and surrogate standard solutions, were prepared at a 5 µL. The UPLC system was coupled to a mass spectrometer hybrid
concentration of 1000 mg/L. After preparation, the solutions were quadrupole-ion trap (UPLC-5500 QTRAP, Applied Biosystems, Foster
stored at −20 °C (Gros et al., 2013). Standard solutions containing the City, CA, USA) equipped with a Turbo V electrospray ionization source
antibiotic mixtures were prepared in methanol/water (50:50, v/v) just working in positive ionization mode. Two multiple reaction monitoring
before the analysis; by mixing appropriate amounts of the intermediate (MRM) transitions per compound were recorded by using the Scheduled
standard solutions. Separate mixtures of isotopically labelled internal MRM™ algorithm (see Gros et al., 2013 for details). All data were ac-
standards were prepared in methanol, except ampicillin-15N, which was quired and processed using Analyst 1.6.3 software.
diluted in acetonitrile/water (50:50, v/v). Further diluted solutions
were prepared in a methanol/HPLC water mixture (50:50, v/v). 2.4. Environmental risk assessment (ERA)
Glass fibre filters (1 µm) and PVDF filters (0.45 µm) from Whatman
(UK) were used for filtration of the samples. OASIS Hydrophilic- The environmental risk associated with antibiotic residues released
Lipophilic-Balanced (HLB) cartridges (60 mg, 3 mL) from Waters with the WWTP effluents was assessed using risk quotient (RQ). Risk
Corporation (Milford, MA, U.S.A.) were used for solid phase extraction. quotients are indices based on empirical data for quantification of the
HPLC grade methanol, acetonitrile, formic acid 98% and water environmental risk of chemicals and involve the comparison of the
(LiChrosolv) were purchased by Merck (Darmstadt, Germany). environmental concentrations of pollutants with the concentrations at
Ammonium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid 37% and the nitrogen for which adverse effects on target organisms are expected (Isidori et al.,
drying were purchased by Abelló Linde S.A. (Valencia, Spain). 2005). Risk quotients were calculated according to the European
Community guidelines (EC TGD, 2003), using Eq. (1):
2.3. Analytical procedure
RQ = (PEC )/(PNEC ) (1)
2.3.1. Sample pre-treatment where PEC is the “Predicted Environmental Concentration” for each
Each sampling day, water was filtered by 1 μm glass fibre filter antibiotic and PNEC is its “Predicted No Effect Concentration”. Calcu-
followed by 0.45 μm PVDF filter. An appropriate volume of 0.1 M lations of PEC were based on the antibiotic levels detected in WWTP
Na2EDTA solution was added to the filtered water to get a final con- effluent of the 13 WWTPs considered in this work (Table 1 for average
centration of 0.1% (g solute/g solution), and the pH adjusted to 2.5 values and Table S5 for complete raw data). In the present study, it was
with hydrochloric acid 0.1 M. Samples were further processed: 50 µL of assumed that the final effluents of the WWTPs are discharged in
surrogates mix was added to each of the 50 mL samples. Solid phase freshwater ecosystems so that the impact of the antibiotic presence in
extraction (SPE) was performed according to Gros et al. (2013). Briefly, wastewater in the different scenarios in the 7 countries can be com-
Oasis HLB (60 mg, 3 mL) cartridges were first conditioned with pared. Therefore, PEC was calculated by applying a dilution factor (the
2 × 3 mL methanol followed by 2 × 3 mL water (HPLC grade, and pH ratio between the volume of freshwater available and the domestic
adjusted to 2.5 with HCl 0.1 M). Then 50 mL of filtered effluent were sewage discharge) to the corresponding occurrence values following the
loaded onto the SPE cartridge samples at approximately 1 mL/min, approach by Keller et al. (2014) using Eq. (2):
approximately, under vacuum conditions. Each cartridge was cleaned
PEC = (MC )/(DF ) (2)
with 2 × 3 mL HPLC water (under gravity conditions) and dried under
vacuum conditions for 10–15 min. The cartridges were protected with where MC is the “Measured Concentration” in the wastewater effluents
parafilm and preserved at −20 °C before shipment with dry ice to the for each antibiotic and WWTP and DF is the “National annual median
reference analytical laboratory, where the samples were stored at dilution factor” calculated for each country by Keller et al. (2014). The
−20 °C until analysis (< 2 weeks). For analyses, the samples were paper reports the calculated DF for domestic effluents for approxi-
eluted from the cartridge with 6 mL of ultra-pure methanol, evaporated mately 100 countries. These DF values were used by the same authors
under N2 stream near dryness, and reconstituted with 1 mL of mixture as surrogates to compare risk levels caused by chemical exposure be-
of methanol and water (50:50, v/v). Finally, 10 µL of a standard 1 ng/ tween countries. The DF for the 7 countries of our study were extracted
mL mixture containing all isotopically labelled standards was added to from this report and can be found in Table S6.

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Two PNEC values were considered following the approach by Tell (p < 0.05) than those observed in the WWTP effluent samples from
et al. (2019): environmental PNECs (PNEC-ENVs) and the PNECs based Cyprus, Finland and Norway (Fig. S1). Of the 15 sulfonamide anti-
on minimum inhibitory concentrations (PNEC-MICs). PNEC-ENVs were biotics screened, only sulfapyridine and sulfamethoxazole were de-
calculated based on the environmental toxicity data collected from in- tected in the final effluents, with maximal values of 583.6 ng/L in
dustrial and literature sources by Tell et al. (2019). Preference was Norway and 220.9 ng/L in Cyprus, respectively. Considering average
given to data generated following the OECD (Organization for Eco- values, the Spanish WWTP effluent samples presented significantly
nomic Cooperation and Development) guidelines and from cyano- higher (p < 0.05) concentrations of sulfamethoxazole than most of the
bacteria, as they are considered more sensitive to antibiotics than other other samples (Fig. S1). The dihydrofolate reductase inhibitor tri-
organisms (Le Page et al., 2017). PNEC-MICs values were developed by methoprim was detected in all the WWTPs, in almost all the sampling
Bengtsson-Palme and Larsson (2016) based on MIC data from the EU- campaigns. Trimethoprim is commonly used in combination with sul-
CAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing famethoxazole, as cotrimoxazole (Batt et al., 2006). However, the ratio
database). As recommended by Tell et al. (2019), the lowest of the two between the concentrations of these two compounds was not consistent
PNEC values was used for the environmental risk assessment in this with the ratio used in clinical treatment (1:5; trimethoprim:sulfa-
work in order to be protective with ecological resources, and also to methoxazole) for any of the samples from the different countries. The
lower the pressure for the evolution, selection and maintenance of concentration of SMX in influent wastewater has been reported as four
antimicrobial resistance in the environment. PNEC-ENV and PNEC-MIC times higher than that of trimethoprim in several studies (Perez et al.,
extracted from the communication by Tell et al. (2019) for those anti- 2005; Jelic et al., 2015). However, trimethoprim biodegradation in CAS
biotics detected in our study can be found in Table S7. commonly is not as efficient as that for SMX (Perez et al., 2005;
Verlicchi et al., 2012) and therefore trimethoprim concentration was
2.5. Statistical analysis and data treatment even higher than that for SMX in most of the final effluents monitored
in this study (Table 1). Three of the quinolone antibiotics measured (i.e.
The variations between sampling campaigns for the same WWTP nalidixic acid, oxolinic acid, and pipemidic acid) were detected in at
and between different WWTPs were analysed in order to obtain the least one sample. The levels of pipemidic acid presented no significant
temporal and geographical variations, respectively. The mean values variation among WWTP effluent samples. The highest concentration
comparison was performed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was observed in Portugal (117.6 ng/L) in WWTP PT1, although this
with the post hoc Tuckey’s test (p < 0.05) using the IBM SPSS compound was detected just in the first sampling campaign. Nalidixic
Statistics v26. To perform the data analysis, and avoid missing values, acid and oxolinic acid were only detected in some of the sampling
the results below the method quantification limits (MQL) were assumed campaigns in Ireland, in samples from both WWTPs in the case of na-
as half of the value of the MQL of the respective sampling campaign lidixic acid or just in WWTP IL2 samples for oxolinic acid. In addition,
(see Table S5), and in the case of results below method detection limit ampicillin was also only quantified in the Irish samples collected in
(MDL) it was used the value of zero. Spring (although detected below the limit of quantification in Autumn
Annual human consumption of antibacterials for systemic use (ATC 2015), with the maximum concentration observed being 231.1 ng/L
group J01) in the community (primary care sector) as defined daily (Fig. S1). Other antibiotics presented maximum concentrations in dif-
dose (DDD) per 1000 inhabitants was extracted from the European ferent countries – cefalexin in Finland (1047.8 ng/L), clindamycin in
Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption Network (ESAC-Net) for Spain (194.5 ng/L), metronidazole in Ireland (230.0 ng/L), and tetra-
years 2015 and 2016 for each of the 7 countries (Fig. 4). cycline in Portugal (613.6 ng/L) (Table S5) indicating the need of
studying several antibiotics to get a clear picture of antibiotic pollution.
3. Results and discussion The concentration values measured in our study (ranging between ng to
µg/L) are in agreement with those found in final effluents of other
3.1. Occurrence of antibiotic residues in treated wastewaters in different European WWTP, as reported by other authors (Johnson et al., 2017;
European countries Lindberg et al., 2005; Senta et al., 2013; Gracia-Lor et al., 2011;
Birošová et al., 2014) and in particular by Carvalho and Santos in their
Fifty-three antibiotics belonging to 10 different chemical classes review on the occurrence of antibiotics in wastewater and different
were monitored in the final effluents collected in wastewater treatment environmental matrices (Carvalho and Santos 2016) and, most recently,
plants located in different European countries. Targeted antibiotics in the report by the European Commission Joint Research Center (JRC)
were selected based on their human and veterinary usage worldwide, as (Sanseverino et al., 2018) where concentrations in WWTP effluents for
well as their occurrence and ubiquity in the aquatic environment (Gros the majority of antibiotics were between 0.1 and 1 µg/L. Nevertheless,
et al., 2013; ECDC EFSA EMA, 2017. Among the 53 antibiotic com- some differences were identified among the examined samples in the
pounds analysed in wastewater effluents (Table S4), 17 were detected present study. The countries exhibiting the highest average effluent
in at least one of the 13 urban WWTPs studied, located in the 7 different concentrations were Ireland and the southern countries Portugal and
countries (Table 1). The concentration of these 17 antibiotics (cipro- Spain. In contrast, Cyprus, where tertiary treatment or membrane
floxacin, ofloxacin, enrofloxacin, orbifloxacin, azithromycin, clari- bioreactors are used, and northern countries exhibited lower total
thromycin, sulfapyridine, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, nalidixic concentrations of antibiotics (Fig. 3).
acid, pipemidic acid, oxolinic acid, cefalexin, clindamycin, me- Temporal variations of antibiotic concentrations (grouped based on
tronidazole, ampicillin, and tetracycline) in the studied WWTP are their antibiotic class) were evaluated based on the comparison of data
shown in Table S5 and represented in Fig. S1. The highest antibiotic collected in two different seasons (early Spring and early Autumn) and
concentrations observed were for fluoroquinolones: up to 1435.5 ng/L in two consecutive years. The comparison of the two years of sampling
of ciprofloxacin in Portugal, and 613.0 ng/L of ofloxacin in Cyprus (2015 vs 2016) revealed significant differences in the cumulative values
(Table S5). Of the four fluoroquinolones detected, two (enrofloxacin of antibiotics concentration only in Cyprus, with significantly
and orbifloxacin) are used in veterinary medicine (Table S4) and were (p = 0.006) higher concentrations in 2016 (Fig. S2(a) and (c)). When
only occasionally detected in samples from Spain and Cyprus, respec- evaluating the antibiotic presence by season, significant variation in
tively (Fig. S1). The macrolides azithromycin and clarithromycin were cumulative antibiotic concentrations was only observed for some
observed in all countries presenting their maximal concentrations of countries (Fig. 2): Antibiotic concentrations in early Spring (March
1577.3 ng/L and 346.8 ng/L, respectively in WWTP effluents from 2015 and 2016) were significantly higher than those in early Autumn
Portugal. In the case of azithromycin, the concentrations observed in (September 2015 and October 2016) in samples from Spain, Ireland and
the Portuguese WWTP PT2 samples were significantly higher Finland WWTPs (Fig. 2). These findings are in line with the seasonality

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Table 1
Occurrence values (ng/L) for the 17 antibiotics detected in the samples from the 13 WWTPs considered in this study: Portugal (PT), Spain (ES), Cyprus (CYP), Ireland
(IL), Germany (DE), Finland (FI), and Norway (NO). Concentrations (ng/L) are calculated as the average from the 4 sampling campaigns or 3 sampling campaigns in
the case of PT1 and 1 sampling campaign in the case of PT3. Occurrence values for each day and sampling campaign can be found in Table S5.
Chemical group Antibiotic PT1 PT2 PT3 ES1 CYP1 CYP2 IL1 IL2 DE1 DE2 FI1 FI2 NO1

Cephalosporins Cefalexin 38.4 37.0 < MDL 65.2 66.3 65.0 66.4 87.6 < MDL < MDL 203.3 308.0 60.7
Dihydrofolate reductase Trimethoprim 69.1 146.3 190.6 102.8 74.2 44.0 141.3 121.0 15.2 105.0 182.0 186.7 119.7
inhibitors
Fluoroquinolones Ciprofloxacin 457.3 584.9 231.4 200.3 316.8 252.3 259.8 234.0 43.8 230.6 38.4 43.2 159.2
Enrofloxacin < MDL < MDL < MDL 69.4 < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL
Ofloxacin 89.7 184.9 132.8 142.3 305.1 196.7 65.4 39.9 < MDL 66.5 20.0 22.8 27.1
Orbifloxacin < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL 6.7 6.5 < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL
Lincosamides Clindamycin 8.5 86.6 31.5 101.4 6.5 27.8 42.5 59.1 < MDL 110.7 88.8 94.2 97.1
Macrolides Azithromycin 361.8 597.5 178.9 299.5 48.0 45.2 266.7 260.8 126.2 290.4 129.3 130.7 149.7
Clarithromycin 74.2 118.7 313.2 112.0 < MDL 11.9 204.4 189.4 76.5 123.4 4.5 4.8 20.8
Nitroimidazole Metronidazole < MDL < MDL < MDL 76.1 19.6 < MDL 88.6 78.2 7.6 20.3 20.1 41.9 93.2
antibiotics
Penicillins Ampicillin < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL 99.4 68.1 < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL
Quinolones Nalidixic Acid < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL 50.3 25.3 < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL
Oxolinic Acid < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL 5.3 < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL < MDL
Pipemidic Acid 15.0 10.8 20.1 30.1 10.1 15.2 18.2 4.4 11.8 < MDL 4.8 3.2 7.5
Sulfonamides Sulfamethoxazole 30.2 7.1 < MDL 123.4 13.3 68.5 53.0 44.0 22.9 34.9 < MDL < MDL 48.6
Sulfapyridine 84.5 4.7 48.8 63.9 8.7 48.7 95.5 93.6 22.7 112.0 89.2 98.8 184.0
Tetracyclines Tetracycline 231.2 165.7 147.5 < MDL 36.9 24.5 141.0 194.2 < MDL 15.4 70.6 16.8 179.2

< MDL Values below method detection limit.

of antibiotic prescriptions reported in other publications (Caucci et al., hypothesized that these differences are still noticeable in treated was-
2016; Sun et al., 2012). However, the inverse was observed in one of tewater effluents. To test this hypothesis, annual human consumption
the Cyprus WWTPs (CYP1), with higher concentrations of antibiotics in of antibacterials for systemic use (see Section 2.5) was compared with
early autumn than in early spring, whereas no clear seasonal trend was actual concentrations found in wastewater effluents for each of the 7
observed for Portugal, Germany or Norway. The analysis of each anti- countries in the two years monitoring study (Fig. 4). Based on the ECDC
biotic class did not show clear seasonal patterns. For instance, macro- reports, Cyprus was the country with the highest consumption of an-
lides, one of the antibiotic classes detected at the highest concentrations tibiotics followed by Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Norway, and
in effluent samples in this study, did not exhibit significant differences Germany (Fig. 4b). As described in the previous section, Ireland, Spain
in the sampling campaigns. On the contrary, they did display high and Portugal were the countries exhibiting the highest total antibiotic
seasonality in their consumption in some countries such as Switzerland, concentrations whereas Norway, Finland, and Germany showed lower
with a high peak in winter as reported in other studies (Coutu et al., concentrations (Fig. 4a). Therefore, higher antibiotic consumption rates
2013). Macrolides are usually prescribed to treat respiratory tract in- were, in general, in agreement with higher total antibiotic concentra-
fections in patients living in the community, and in the case of clari- tions in the WWTP effluent samples for Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. In
thromycin specifically to treat lung infections (Tanaka et al., 2002). contrast, lower antibiotic consumption rates correlated with lower total
However, significant variation between Spring and Autumn was ob- antibiotic concentrations in the WWTP effluent samples from Finland,
served for certain antibiotics in certain effluents collected from the Norway, and Germany. Curiously, Cyprus, with the highest antibiotic
same WWTP: cefalexin (CYP1, IL1 and IL2), ofloxacin (FI1), cipro- consumption rates, exhibited one of the lowest total concentrations in
floxacin (FI2), enrofloxacin (ES1), pipemidic acid (ES1 and IL1), and final effluent samples (Fig. S2). This may be due to either an over-
ampicillin (IL1) (Fig. S1). In summary, there are antibiotic- and estimation of Cyprus antibiotic consumption, since it was the only
country-specific trends in the concentration of antibiotics found in country for which ESAC-net data on consumption was also including
wastewater effluents. These findings did not corroborate the hypothesis hospital sector, or/and to the advanced wastewater treatment used in
that higher concentration should be detected overall in early Spring the Cyprus WWTPs analysed; i.e. sand filtration + chlorination as ad-
(end of winter) than in early Autumn (or late Summer). The quantifi- ditional tertiary treatment to CAS (CYP1) and MBR treatment with ul-
cation of antibiotics concentration in wastewater before the treatment trafiltration membrane (CYP2) (Table S2). The search for potential
would probably better reflect the antibiotics consumption. The treat- correlations between antibiotic consumption and its occurrence in final
ment processes reduce antibiotic levels to different extents depending effluent is influenced by different factors, in particular antibiotic me-
not only on the type of treatment applied in each case (Table S2), but tabolism in the human body, the chemical and biological stability of the
also on other conditions, including physical-chemical properties of the antibiotics during wastewater treatment and the specific wastewater
pollutant, climate variations as for example the temperature, which treatment process and operational conditions of each WWTP (Jelic
influences the efficiency of the biological processes as better removal is et al., 2015; Michael et al., 2013). Therefore, if community-based epi-
obtained at temperatures of 15–20 °C compared to below 10 °C demiological studies or health and/or well-being assessments based on
(Krzeminski et al., 2019; Ramin et al., 2018; Vieno et al., 2005). In wastewater are the aims, the analysis of raw (influent) wastewater is
conclusion, a higher sampling frequency (at least monthly) and the preferred (Gracia-Lor et al., 2017). In contrast, the measurement of the
analysis of the raw influent is recommended to bring further insight range and concentration of antibiotics in final effluent permits the as-
about the relationship between antibiotic consumption versus waste- sessment of the impact of antibiotics use in the environment, when
water antibiotic occurrence. sanitation systems that comply with legislative recommendations are
implemented. This was the aim of the present study.

3.2. Human antibiotic consumption and antibiotic occurrence in wastewater

effluents

Consumption of antibiotics varies among countries and it could be

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S. Rodriguez-Mozaz, et al. Environment International 140 (2020) 105733

Fig. 2. Cumulative antibiotic concentrations (ng/L), grouped by chemical family, in the 4 sampling campaigns (Spring and Autumn, 2015, and Spring and Autumn,
2016) in each of the 13 WWTPs. Each band represents the sum of single antibiotics belonging to a chemical family; and each single antibiotic concentration is
calculated as the average concentration of the 3 consecutive sampling days. a, b, c and d indicate significant differences (p < 0.05) between sampling campaigns of
the same WWTP.

3.3. Antibiotic residues in final effluents of wastewater treatment plants impact of the wastewater effluent of WWTPs located in different
located in different European countries and their impact on the aquatic European countries. The Environmental risk of antibiotics was assessed
environment” by evaluation of the Risk Quotient (RQ), calculated as the ratio between
the Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC) of each antibiotic in
Taking advantage of the dataset of antibiotics measured in the ef- the aquatic environment and the Predicted No Effect Concentration
fluent samples from 13 WWTPs, an environmental risk assessment (PNEC) (Section 2.4). Average values from the four sampling campaigns
(ERA) for the different European countries was performed. For this (Table 1) were used to calculate PEC, whereas in the case of PNEC
assessment, it was assumed that final effluents were discharged in values, the antibiotic-specific approach by Tell et al. (2019) was im-
freshwater systems, a condition necessary to compare the potential plemented (see Section 2.4). PNEC is the concentration below which a

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S. Rodriguez-Mozaz, et al. Environment International 140 (2020) 105733

Fig. 3. Antibiotic concentrations profile (ng/L) in the

13 WWTPs under study. Each column represents one
WWTP and each of the bars in the column represents
the average concentration from the 4 sampling
campaigns (March 2015, October 2015, March 2016
and September 2016) for all the antibiotics belonging
to a chemical family, except PT1 (average of March
2015, October 2015 and September 2016). PT3 (just
one sampling campaign in Spring 2016) is omitted.

chemical will likely have no adverse effect in an ecosystem. Among for each antibiotic was chosen for the environmental risk assessment
other pharmaceuticals and emerging pollutants, antibiotics are of par- (Table S7). Three categories according to the RQ value can be defined
ticular concern since they are explicitly designed to have an effect on using commonly used risk ranking criterion (Verlicchi et al., 2012; EC
microorganisms and therefore, they are prone to impact microbial TGD, 2003):
communities in aquatic systems. A detrimental effect of antibiotics on
natural microbial communities could be the disappearance or inhibition • RQ ≤ 0.1: Low environmental risk;
of some microbial groups involved in key ecosystem functions by bac- • 0.1 < RQ ≤ 1: Moderate environmental risk;
tericidal and bacteriostatic effects (Grenni et al., 2018). However, low • RQ > 1: High environmental risk.
concentrations of antibiotics, below the so-called “minimum inhibitory
concentration” (MIC), might also act as a selective force on some mi- The RQ determined for 14 of the 17 antibiotics resulted in low en-
crobial populations, which can develop resistance (Andersson and vironmental risk. The three exceptions were the cephalosporin cefa-
Hughes 2014). Having this in mind and with the aim of performing an lexin, the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin and the macrolide azi-
integrative environmental risk assessment we followed the re- thromycin, whose RQ exceeded the threshold of 0.1 (up to 0.14, 0.90
commendation by Tell et al. (2019) and took into account both, the and 0.58 respectively) (Table 2). According to the results of this study,
environmental PNECs (PNEC-ENVs) and the PNECs based on MIC these 3 antibiotics should be considered as posing a moderate en-
(PNEC-MICs): the lowest of the two values of PNEC-ENV or PNEC-MIC vironmental risk in water bodies in Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, and

Fig. 4. Comparison of (a) the total antibiotic concentration (excluding veterinary antibiotics enrofloxacin and orbifloxacin) measured in each country (ng/L). Values
for each year calculated as the average of antibiotic concentrations in early Spring and early Autumn sampling campaigns; and (b) the defined national daily dose
values (DDD) per 1000 inhabitants per day, for antibiotics consumed by the community (primary sector) (g). Values extracted from the “Annual Epidemiological
Report for 2016” from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) (https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/antimicrobial-consumption-
annual-epidemiological-report-2016. Countries: PT, Portugal; ES, Spain; CYP, Cyprus; IL, Ireland; DE, Germany; FI, Finland; NO, Norway. * For Cyprus data on
consumption in hospital sector is also included. Specific information about the antibiotic types in each year and country is shown in Fig. S2.

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S. Rodriguez-Mozaz, et al. Environment International 140 (2020) 105733

Table 2
Risk Quotients (RQs) in freshwater calculated for the average concentration (4 sampling campaigns) for the 17 antibiotics detected in the samples from the 13
WWTPs. RQ are calculated using Eqs. (1) and (2) (see Section 2.4). Environmental Risk: RQ ≤ 0.1: Low; 0.1 < RQ ≤ 1: Moderate; RQ > 1: High. Values in bold
correspond to RQ > 0.1, moderate or high risk. Portugal (PT), Spain (ES), Cyprus (CYP), Ireland (IL), Germany (DE), Finland (FI), Norway (NO).
Chemical groups PT1 PT2 PT3 ES1 CYP1 CYP2 IL1 IL2 DE1 DE2 FI1 FI2 NO1

Cephalosporins Cefalexin 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.03 0.14 0.14 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Dihydrofolate reductase inhibitors Trimethoprim 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00
Fluoroquinolones Ciprofloxacin 0.12 0.16 0.06 0.13 0.90 0.72 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.12 0.00 0.00 0.00
Enrofloxacin 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Ofloxacin 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.01 0.10 0.07 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Orbifloxacin 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Lincosamides Clindamycin 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.04 0.01 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00
Macrolides Azithromycin 0.30 0.49 0.15 0.58 0.41 0.39 0.06 0.06 0.20 0.45 0.00 0.00 0.00
Clarithromycin 0.02 0.02 0.06 0.05 0.00 0.03 0.01 0.01 0.03 0.05 0.00 0.00 0.00
Nitroimidazole antibiotics Metronidazole 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.02 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Penicillins Ampicillin 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Quinolones Nalidixic Acid 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Oxolinic Acid 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Pipemidic Acid 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Sulfonamides Sulfamethoxazole 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Sulfapyridine 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Tetracyclines Tetracycline 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Germany. Portugal, Spain and Ireland were the countries with the concentration values of antibiotics in the effluent samples from
highest concentrations of antibiotics encountered in the WWTP effluent WWTPs) can mask some occasional critical situations regarding anti-
samples (Fig. 3). The average concentration values for ciprofloxacin in biotic pollution. Therefore, RQs were also calculated for the highest
this study ranged between 38.4 in Finland (FI2) to 584.9 in Portugal concentration measured in all sampling campaigns in order to predict
(PT2) (Table 1), whereas in previous studies levels reported were of worst-case scenarios (Table S8). Fig. 5 shows the PEC values in all
140 ng/L in USA (Renew and Huang, 2004), 199 ng/L in Greece sampling campaigns for the antibiotics that showed the highest RQ
(Papageorgiou et al., 2016), 211 ng/L in Slovakia (Birošová et al., values, i.e. the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin and the macrolide azi-
2014), 640 ng/L in Australia (Watkinson et al., 2007), or 700 ng/L in thromycin. As shown in Fig. 5, in a single occasion PEC exceeded the
Spain (Gracia-Lor et al., 2012). Also, similar values for azithromycin lowest PNEC (Table S7), a situation that corresponds to RQ ≥ 1. This
(between 45.2 ng/L in CYP2 and 597.5 ng/L in PT2; table 1) were scenario was observed for azithromycin occurrence in the effluent
found in other countries: 50 ng/L in Czech Republic (Golovko et al., samples from the WWTP in Spain in the winter campaign of 2015.
2014), 277 ng/L in Germany (Rossmann et al., 2014), 504 ng/L in RQ values determined in other studies, based on the measured en-
Slovakia (Birošová et al., 2014). In the case of cefalexin, found up to vironmental concentration (MEC) instead of the PEC values, revealed
308 ng/L in Finland (FI2) (table 1) in this study, it has been detected in low or moderate environmental risk for some trophic levels in different
China, 980 ng/L (Gulkowska et al., 2008), U.S.A. 2 330 ng/L countries. Surface water RQ values indicated a moderate risk of adverse
(Mohapatra et al., 2016) or Australia at 3 900 ng/L (Watkinson et al., chronic effects (RQ > 0.1) for trimethoprim (out of 10 antibiotics
2007). The relatively high concentrations determined for these 3 measured) in a river in Sweden (Sörengård et al., 2019), whereas sul-
compounds in conjunction with the low dilution factors defined for famethoxazole and ofloxacin were reported to be the antibiotics with
Portugal, Spain and Cyprus (61, 26 and 6, respectively) place these the highest risk to the environment out of 13 antibiotics monitored in
countries in the top list of environmental risk due to antibiotic pollution surface water from China, with RQ values of 0.23 and 0.45, respectively
emitted by final effluents of urban WWTPs, among the countries stu- (Hu et al., 2018). RQ values higher than 1 have been reported in some
died. The dilution factor in these countries may be relatively low surface waters in China: up to 31.3 for sulfamethoxazole and 1.5 for
(Acuña et al., 2015) as in these areas streams can be dominated by ofloxacin (Li et al., 2012) or in the surface water of a highly urbanized
municipal and/or industrial effluent discharges, particularly in urba- area in Italy: up to 7.09 for clarithromycin and 11.33 for amoxicillin
nized watersheds. In addition, Iberian rivers (Portugal and Spain) may (Riva et al., 2019). Most of these studies did not consider PNEC-MIC
be highly influenced by water scarcity in drought periods (Pereira et al., values when assessing environmental risk but regular PNEC-ENV,
2017). In the case of Cyprus, where rivers are inexistent, treated was- which were available from the literature or by in-silico calculations and
tewater is reused for irrigation (agriculture and landscape), or it is in- selected based on authors own criteria in each case and therefore,
filtrated through shallow ponds reaching the aquifer (IMPEL, 2018). comparison cannot be considered conclusive.
Contrasting with Cyprus, where risk was aggravated by the low dilution Ciprofloxacin and azithromycin, both highlighted in this study as
factor, rather by the high antibiotic load, in Ireland, the high dilution antibiotics of potential environmental concern, have also been included
factor of 230 compensated the high concentrations of antibiotics found in the last version of the surface water Watch List (WL) under the Water
in the effluents of the WWTPs analysed. The low dilution factor defined Framework Directive (WFD) (Commission Implementing Decision,
for Germany (32) together with some remarkable high concentrations 2018). This Watch list proposes 15 substances that should be monitored
of antibiotics in the effluent samples from one WWTP, DE2, where only in water by the EU Member States. Besides ciprofloxacin and azi-
CAS treatment was applied (Table S2), lead to relatively high RQ for thromycin, the macrolides erythromycin and clarithromycin, and the
ciprofloxacin and azithromycin (0.12 and 0.45 respectively, Table 2). In penicillin amoxicillin are also included in this list. The inclusion of 5
contrast, in the effluent samples from WWTP DE1, where ozone treat- antibiotics among the 15 compounds in this list is consistent with the
ment was applied as tertiary treatment, and low concentrations of an- latest “European One Health Action Plan against Antimicrobial Re-
tibiotics were found, no risk for the environment was identified. Finally, sistance (AMR)”, which supports the use of the watch list to improve
northern countries Norway and Finland, exhibited the highest dilution knowledge of the occurrence and spread of antimicrobials in the en-
factor (2453 and 1702 respectively) and also the lowest levels of anti- vironment (European Commission, 2017). Other organisms as the U.S.
biotics, resulting in low risk for the environment (RQs < 0.1). Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), responsible for testing and
This picture produced for water bodies (based on the average regulating chemicals in drinking water, does not regulate the presence

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S. Rodriguez-Mozaz, et al. Environment International 140 (2020) 105733

Fig. 5. Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC) of ciprofloxacin and azithromycin (ng/L) associated with the 13 WWTPs under study in each of the 4 sampling
campaigns. Dashed line corresponds to the lower PNEC (ng/L) selected based on Tell et al. 2019; i.e. 60 and 20 ng/L for ciprofloxacin and azithromycin respectively.

of any antibiotic although the macrolide erythromycin is now included The study has primarily allowed us to define the current water quality
on the “Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List (CCL-4) (U.S. EPA, status of the urban wastewater effluents in Europe. Within the 53 an-
2016), a list of c.a. 100 contaminants that are anticipated to occur in tibiotics analysed in the sampling campaigns, 17 were detected in
public water systems. The inclusion of antibiotics in the lists of different treated wastewater effluents. Ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, and cefa-
pre-regulation initiatives, is a recognition of the growing concern re- lexin were selected as markers of antibiotic pollution and are suggested
lated to these compounds. to be used for widespread temporal and geographical characterization
As it is currently not feasible to analyse all micropollutants, the of environmental water or WWTP effluents. In addition, a north-to-
selection of a set of indicator compounds in regular water-monitoring south geographical gradation was observed in terms of antibiotic
programs is recommended. In Section 3.1 the 17 antibiotics detected at amounts released in the environment. Compounds with the highest
least once in the sampling campaigns (among a group of 53 substances loads in all countries were macrolides and fluoroquinolones. Although
screened) were suggested as potential markers for antibiotic pollution, the WWTPs examined in this study were complying with EU legislation,
so that “smart monitoring” can be attained by analysing this reduced antibiotic residues of at least 7–12 distinct compounds, each at con-
number of compounds. However, the assignment of RQs to these 17 centrations ranging from 3 to 598 of ng/L, were observed to be con-
selected contaminants detected in the effluent samples from WWTPs tinuously discharged in freshwater and marine ecosystems, impacting
support a further reduction of possible indicator compounds. Based on the environment and possibly contributing to antibiotic resistance
risk assessment criteria, three compounds, ciprofloxacin, azithromycin, evolution. Although the detected levels of antibiotics released in the
and cefalexin, are suggested as indicator candidates. These antibiotics environment were predicted to exhibit a moderate impact on the en-
had the highest RQs in a number of countries (Table 2). The use of the vironment in general, antibiotics such as azithromycin and cipro-
broader panel (17 compounds) or the short-list (3 compounds) can both floxacin can occasionally pose a risk to the environment and antibiotic
be options to consider depending on the goals of the monitoring pro- resistance development. The situation regarding environmental anti-
gram. biotic pollution can be further worsened in the future in the frame of
Some final considerations should be kept in mind concerning the global change, with population growth, intensified agricultural and
environmental risk assessment. Firstly, antibiotics enter and are present industrial activity, together with water scarcity in vulnerable areas such
in the aquatic environment as a mixture, either of different compounds as southern European countries. Our study provides a framework for
belonging to the same class of antibiotics, acting by similar mechan- predicting the likelihood for selecting antibiotic resistant bacteria in
isms, or of different therapeutic groups, which may have synergistic or water bodies containing antibiotics released from WWTPs.
antagonistic effects, sometimes with the possibility of exerting ex-
acerbated effects in relation to the single compounds (Backhaus and
Faust 2012). In addition, it is known that body- or environment-driven CRediT authorship contribution statement
transformation of parent compounds cause metabolites (or by-products)
to occur in the environment. These antibiotic by-products very often Sara Rodriguez-Mozaz: Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding
retain the antibiotic activity to a certain degree and can all be found at acquisition, Investigation, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original
high concentrations in the final wastewater effluent (Fatta-Kassinos draft, Writing - review & editing. Ivone Vaz-Moreira: Investigation,
et al., 2011). The monitoring of these compounds, based on chemical Conceptualization, Data curation, Software, Visualization, Writing -
analytical methods or bioassays is, therefore, necessary to improve the review & editing. Saulo Varela Della Giustina: Data curation, Formal
accuracy of risk assessment due to antibiotic pollution in water bodies. analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Validation. Marta
Llorca: Investigation, Data curation, Methodology, Visualization,
Validation. Damià Barceló: Investigation, Resources. Sara Schubert:
4. Conclusions Investigation. Thomas U. Berendonk: Conceptualization,
Investigation. Irene Michael-Kordatou: Conceptualization,
This comprehensive monitoring study of a broad set of antibiotics in Investigation, Writing - review & editing. Despo Fatta-Kassinos:
several countries is the first such study performed at a European level. Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - review & editing. Jose Luis

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S. Rodriguez-Mozaz, et al. Environment International 140 (2020) 105733

Martinez: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - review & editing. list of substances for Union-wide monitoring in the field of water policy pursuant to
Christian Elpers: Investigation, Writing - review & editing. Isabel Directive 2008/105/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/495.
Henriques: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - review & Coutu, S., Rossi, L., Barry, D.A., Rudaz, S., Vernaz, N., 2013. Temporal variability of
editing. Thomas Jaeger: Investigation. Thomas Schwartz: antibiotics fluxes in wastewater and contribution from hospitals. PLoS ONE 8 (1),
Conceptualization, Investigation. Erik Paulshus: Investigation. Kristin e53592. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053592.
ECDC EFSA EMA 2017. ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control),
O’Sullivan: Conceptualization, Investigation. Katariina M.M. EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), and EMA (European Medicines Agency),
Pärnänen: Investigation. Marko Virta: Conceptualization, 2017. ECDC/EFSA/EMA second joint report on the integrated analysis of the con-
Investigation. Thi Thuy Do: Investigation. Fiona Walsh: sumption of antimicrobial agents and occurrence of antimicrobial resistance in bac-
teria from humans and food-producing animals – Joint Interagency Antimicrobial
Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - review & editing. Célia M. Consumption and Resistance Analysis (JIACRA) Report. EFSA J. 15(7), 4872, 135 pp.
Manaia: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4872.
administration, Resources, Writing - review & editing. ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control), Surveillance of anti-
microbial resistance in Europe 2016. Annual report of the European Antimicrobial
Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net). Stockholm (2017) [accessed 2019 Jun
Declaration of Competing Interest 16]. https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications-data/antimicrobial-consumption-
annual-epidemiological-report-2016.
European Commission, 2017. A European One Health Action Plan against Antimicrobial
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial Resistance (AMR), June 2017, https://ec.europa.eu/health/amr/sites/amr/files/
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ- amr_action_plan_2017_en.pdf (last visited June 14th 2019).
ence the work reported in this paper. European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing, 2013. [accessed 2019 Jun
12]. http://www.eucast.org/.
EC TGD, 2003. European commission Technical Guidance Document in Support of
Acknowledgments Commission Directive 93//67/EEC on Risk Assessment for New Notified Substances
and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1488/94 on Risk Assessment for Existing
Substance. Part II,, 100–103.
We thank all the wastewater treatment plant staff and other colla- Fatta-Kassinos, D., Vasquez, M.I., Kummerer, K., 2011. Transformation products of
borators who made this work possible. We would also thank Virginie pharmaceuticals in surface waters and wastewater formed during photolysis and
Keller and Andrew Johnson for their help in the data processing. advanced oxidation processes - Degradation, elucidation of byproducts and assess-
ment of their biological potency. Chemosphere 85, 693–709. https://doi.org/10.
Funding: This work was financed by the Water JPI through the national
1016/j.chemosphere.2011.06.082.
funding agencies supporting the consortium WaterJPI/0001/2013 Gao, L., Shi, Y., Li, W., Niu, H., Liu, J., Cai, Y., 2012. Occurrence of antibiotics in eight
STARE—“Stopping Antibiotic Resistance Evolution” (Cyprus, RPF; sewage treatment plants in Beijing, China. Chemosphere 86 (6), 665–671. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.11.019.
Germany, BMBF; Spain, MINECO; Finland, AKA; Ireland, EPA; Norway,
Gelband, H., Miller-Petrie, M., Pant, S., Gandra, S., Levinson, J., Barter, D., et al., 2015.
RCN; Portugal, FCT). Authors acknowledge the support from the Executive Summary: The State of the World’s Antibiotics. Center for Disease
Economy and Knowledge Department of the Catalan Government Dynamics, Economics and Policy.
through Consolidated Research Group (ICRA-ENV 2017 SGR 1124 and Golovko, O., Kumar, V., Fedorova, G., Randak, T., Grabic, R., 2014. Seasonal changes in
antibiotics, antidepressants/psychiatric drugs, antihistamines and lipid regulators in
2017-SGR-1404-Water and Soil Quality Unit). S.R.-M. acknowledges a wastewater treatment plant. Chemosphere 111, 418–426. https://doi.org/10.1016/
the Ramon y Cajal program (RYC-2014-16707). I.V.-M. was supported j.chemosphere.2014.03.132.
by the FCT grant SFRH/BPD/87360/2012. Laura Rodriguez de la Gracia-Lor, E., Sancho, J.V., Hernández, F., 2011. Multi-class determination of around 50
pharmaceuticals, including 26 antibiotics, in environmental and wastewater samples
Ballina is acknowledged for her help in the design of graphical abstract. by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. J.
Chromatogr. A 1218 (16), 2264–2275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2011.02.
Appendix A. Supplementary material 026.
Gracia-Lor, E., Sancho, J.V., Serrano, R., Hernández, F., 2012. Occurrence and removal of
pharmaceuticals in wastewater treatment plants at the Spanish Mediterranean area of
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https:// Valencia. Chemosphere 87, 453–462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.
doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.105733. 12.025.
Gracia-Lor, E., Castiglioni, S., Been, R., Bade, F., Castrignanò, E., Covaci, A., González-
Mariño, I., Hapeshi, E., Kasprzyk-Hordern, B., Kinyua, J., Lai, F.Y., Letzel, T.,
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