Determination of antibiotics in sewage from hospitals, nursery and slaughter house, wastewater treatment plant and source water in Chongqing region of Three Gorge Reservoir in China

• Published in: Environmental pollution (1987) 2010-05, Vol.158 (5), p.1444-1450
• Main Authors: Chang, Xiaosong, Meyer, Michael T., Liu, Xiaoyun, Zhao, Qing, Chen, Hao, Chen, Ji-an, Qiu, Zhiqun, Yang, Lan, Cao, Jia, Shu, Weiqun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anti-Bacterial Agents - analysis; Antibiotics; China; Hospitals; Houses; Liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS); mass spectrometry; Medical Waste - analysis; norfloxacin; Nurseries; ofloxacin; oxytetracycline; Reservoirs; sewage; Sewage - analysis; slaughterhouses; solid phase extraction; Solid-phase extraction (SPE); tetracycline; Tetracyclines; Three Gorge Reservoir; Trimethoprim; tylosin; Wastewater treatment; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Purification
• ISSN: 0269-7491; 1873-6424
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2009.12.034

Sewage samples from 4 hospitals, 1 nursery, 1 slaughter house, 1 wastewater treatment plant and 5 source water samples of Chongqing region of Three Gorge Reservoir were analyzed for macrolide, lincosamide, trimethoprim, fluorouinolone, sulfonamide and tetracycline antibiotics by online solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results showed that the concentration of ofloxacin (OFX) in hospital was the highest among all water environments ranged from 1.660 μg/L to 4.240 μg/L and norfloxacin (NOR, 0.136–1.620 μg/L), ciproflaxacin (CIP, ranged from 0.011 μg/L to 0.136 μg/L), trimethoprim (TMP, 0.061–0.174 μg/L) were commonly detected. Removal range of antibiotics in the wastewater treatment plant was 18–100% and the removal ratio of tylosin, oxytetracycline and tetracycline were 100%. Relatively higher removal efficiencies were observed for tylosin (TYL), oxytetracycline (OXY) and tetracycline (TET)(100%), while lower removal efficiencies were observed for Trimethoprim (TMP, 1%), Epi-iso-chlorotetracycline (EICIC, 18%) and Erythromycin-H 2O (ERY-H 2O, 24%). Antibiotics were removed more efficiently in primary treatment compared with those in secondary treatment. This study give the first insight into the concentration of antibiotics in receiving waters from 4 hospitals, 1 nursery, 1 slaughter house, 1 wastewater treatment plant and 5 source water of Chongqing region of Three Gorge Reservoir