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ANTIBIOTICS
IN NEW MEXICO WASTEWATER
AND GROUND WATER
New Mexico Environment Department
Ground Water Quality Bureau
New Mexico Department of Health
Scientific Laboratory Division
Jerzy Kulis
Dennis McQuillan
Timothy ChapmanDouglas Mawhinney
Rick Meyerhein
September 22, 2003
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EMERGING THREAT
Antibiotic residues in natural waters are ofgrowing concern worldwide:up to 90% of pharmaceutical doses pass through
humans or animalsmany antibiotics are not destroyed by conventional
wastewater treatment
have adverse ecological impact (e.g., antibiotic-resistant bacteria)
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MAIN SOURCES
Homes (treatment, disposal of unused
medication)
Hospitals, nursing homes (treatment,disposal of unused medication)
Animal feeding operations (treatment,
growth promotion) Pharmaceutical manufacturers
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TRANSPORT & FATE
Some antibiotics (e.g., penicillin) easily degrade inthe environment; some (e.g., tetracyclines) resistconventional wastewater treatment
Some antibiotics (e.g., sulfonamides,tetracyclines) bind to manure or soil particles
Subject to photolysis, hydrolysis, redox processes,biodegradation, sorption, and volatilization
Ozonation and activated carbon filtration havebeen demonstrated to remove some antibioticsfrom drinking water.
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2000-02 SURVEY OF DRUG
RESIDUES IN NM WATERS
Analgesics, antibiotics (tetracyclines and macrolides), anti-
convulsants, anti-depressants, anti-inflammatory, hormones
Treated sewage effluent, surface water receiving treated sewage
effluent, groundwater contaminated by sewage, drinking water Drug residues detected in 11 out of 15 sewage effluent samples and in
4 out of 23 surface water samples at low ng/L (ppt) up to 4.6 ug/L
(ppb) levels
Antibiotics (oxytetracycline and/or tetracycline) detected in 6 sewageeffluent samples at levels from 0.66 to 4.6 ug/L
All samples were analyzed by the SLD, except for antibiotics
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OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY
Develop in-state capabilities to analyze
antibiotics in water samples (SLD)
Conduct a limited sampling for antibiotics
in wastewater from different sources and in
contaminated ground water (NMED)
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DEVELOPMENT OF
ANALYTICAL METHODS
Factors considered in developing a preliminary list
of antibiotics of interest: analytical capabilities of the SLD
availability of laboratory standards
frequency of occurrence in US waters
Experimental extractions and analyses resulted in a
final list of antibiotics of interests:best combination of recovery rate, accuracy, precision,
detection limits, and frequency of occurrence in US
waters
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ANALYTICAL METHODS
Samples collected into amber-glass bottles, kept on
ice until delivered to SLD, no preservation
Extraction from water using Solid Phase Extraction
(SPE) cartridges at both acidic and alkaline pH
Separation of antibiotics using high performance
liquid chromatography (HPLC)
Detection using tandem mass spectroscopy (MS/MS)with electrospray ionization (ESI)
Detection limits at or below 1 ppb
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PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
Erythromycin appeared to partially dehydrate during the
analytical process giving rise to several products compound
removed from the preliminary list
Tetracyclines appear to form complexes with metals makingthem difficult to extract with SPE
Chlortetracycline gives very poor analytical response
compound removed from the preliminary list
Different compounds need different pH for optimum recoveryduring SPE (e.g., penicillin G requires acidic pH)
Clogging of the SPE cartridges with dairy wastewater samples
requires centrifuging
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THE FINAL LIST OF
ANTIBIOTICS OF INTEREST
11compounds belonging to 6 classes
Beta-lactams (penicillin G, penicillin V)
Floroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin,ofloxacin)
Lincosamides (lincomycin)
Macrolides (tylosin)
Sulfonamides (trimethoprim, sulfamethazine,sulfamethoxazole,)
Tetracyclines (oxytetracycline)
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SAMPLING LOCATIONS
Selected based on their potential to have highlevels of antibiotics in wastewater or groundwater
Wastewater from 8 dairies, 5 municipalwastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), 2hospitals, and a nursing home
Ground water from contaminant plumes from3 dairies and a WWTP
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DAIRY
WASTEWATER
SAMPLING RESULTS
Antibiotics detected
Not detected
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DAIRY WASTEWATER
SAMPLING RESULTS
Midway Dairy (Portales) lincomycin 6.6
ug/L (ppb)
J-Lu Dairy (Portales) lincomycin 0.7 ug/LBright Star Dairy, Daybreak Dairy (Vado) -
ND
J&M Dairy, Haflinger Dairy (Artesia) NDYorktown Dairy (Roswell) ND
Cheyenne Dairy (Dexter) - ND
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NON-DAIRY
WASTEWATER
SAMPLING RESULTS
Antibiotics detected
Not detected
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NON-DAIRY WASTEWATER
SAMPLING RESULTS Country Cottage (nursing home, Hobbs) ofloxacin 23.5
ug/L
Hagerman WWTP - trimethoprim 1.4 ug/L,
sulfamethoxazole 1.0 mg/L, ofloxacin 0.4 ug/L,
ciprofloxacin 0.2 ug/L Portales WWTP trimethoprim 1.0 ug/L, ofloxacin 1.0 ug/L,
sulfamethoxazole 0.4 ug/L
Santa Fe WWTP ofloxacin 1.0 ug/L, ciprofloxacin 1.0 ug/L
St. Vincent Hospital (Santa Fe) ofloxacin 4.9 ug/L
Socorro WWTP ND
Socorro Hospital ND
Magdalena WWTP - ND
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GROUND WATER
SAMPLING RESULTS
Antibiotics detected
Not detected
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GROUND WATER
SAMPLING RESULTS
Bright Star Dairy, Daybreak Dairy (Vado)
ND
J&M Dairy (Artesia) ND
Magdalena WWTP - ND
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DISCUSSION: DAIRY
WASTEWATER
No evidence of widespread antibiotic residues
Only lincomycin was detected (in 2 dairies out of
8 sampled): commonly used to treat foot warts and mastitis in
lactating cows
in this study, not detected in human wastewater
possible use as a tracer of animal wastewater?
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DISCUSSION: NON-DAIRY
WASTEWATER
Majority of WWTPs had at least one detectable antibiotic
Ofloxacin present in all facilities that had detectable antibiotics used to treat urinary tract infections, pneumonia, bronchitis, prostate
and skin infections
highest levels in wastewater from one hospital and a nursing home
possible use as a tracer of human wastewater?
Simultaneous detections of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole
match their mode of use
often used together to treat urinary tract infections, pneumonia,protozoan infections, and by people with HIV to prevent infections
suggests a similar fate in the environment
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DISCUSSION: GROUND WATER
No antibiotic detections in ground water
from 4 sampled facilities
BUT
None of these facilities had detectable
levels of antibiotics in wastewater
Unable to determine if antibiotics can leach
into ground water
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CONCLUSIONS: ANALYTICAL
METHODS
Analytical capabilities for a number of
antibiotics have been developed by SLD
Future work:expand the list of antibiotics that can be
analyzed, with emphasis on tetracyclines
lower the detection limits down to low pptrange
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CONCLUSIONS: THE SURVEY
Antibiotics detectable in some dairy wastewater
but not widespread
Majority of human wastewater contain antibiotic
residues
Ofloxacin and lincomycin should be investigated
for a possible use as tracers of human and animal
wastes More field sampling is needed to characterize the
fate of antibiotics in the environment and threat to
ground water
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This study was funded in part by a grant
from the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, pursuant to Section 319 of theFederal Clean Water Act.