Distribution,fate and risk assessment of antibiotics in sewage treatment plants in Hong Kong,South China |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Consortium on Health, Environment, Education and Research (CHEER), and Department of Science and Environmental Studies, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong, China;2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510630, China;3. State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University and City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China;4. Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China;5. College of Environment, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China;6. State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution and Research Centre for the Oceans and Human Health, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China;7. The Drainage Services Department, The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong, China;1. State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China;2. The Environmental Research Institute, MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Theoretical Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China;3. South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environment Protection, Guangzhou 510655, China;4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China;2. Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, Qingdao 266071, China;3. Laboratory for Marine Mineral Resources, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China;4. The first Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao 266061, China;5. Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China |
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| Abstract: | Occurrence, removal, consumption and environmental risks of sixteen antibiotics were investigated in several sewage treatment plants (STPs) featuring different treatment levels in Hong Kong, China. Cefalexin, ofloxacin and erythromycin-H2O were predominant with concentrations of 1020–5640, 142–7900 and 243–4740 ng/L in influent, respectively; their mass loads were comparable to levels reported in urban regions in China and were at the high end of the range reported for western countries. The target antibiotics behaved differently depending on the treatment level employed at the STPs and relatively higher removal efficiencies (> 70%) were observed for cefalexin, cefotaxime, amoxicillin, sulfamethoxazole and chloramphenicol during secondary treatment. ß-lactams were especially susceptible to removal via the activated sludge process while macrolides were recalcitrant (< 20%) in the dissolved phase. Two fluoroquinolones, ofloxacin (4%) and norfloxacin (52%), differed greatly in their removal efficiencies, probably because of disparities in their pKa values which resulted in different sorption behaviour in sludge. Overall antibiotic consumption in Hong Kong was back-calculated based on influent mass flows and compared with available prescription and usage data. This model was verified by a good approximation of 82% and 141% to the predicted consumption of total ofloxacin, but a less accurate estimate was obtained for erythromycin usage. Risk assessment indicated that algae are susceptible to the environmental concentrations of amoxicillin as well as the mixture of the nine detected antibiotics in receiving surface waters. |
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