Measuring the occurrence of antibiotics in surface water adjacent to cattle grazing areas using passive samplers

Nasrin Naderi Beni; Daniel D Snow; Elaine D Berry; Aaron R Mittelstet; Tiffany L Messer; Shannon Bartelt-Hunt

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138296

Measuring the occurrence of antibiotics in surface water adjacent to cattle grazing areas using passive samplers

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jul 15:726:138296. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138296. Epub 2020 Apr 1.

Authors

Nasrin Naderi Beni¹, Daniel D Snow², Elaine D Berry³, Aaron R Mittelstet⁴, Tiffany L Messer⁵, Shannon Bartelt-Hunt⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-6105, USA.
² Water Sciences Laboratory and School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583-0844, USA.
³ U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, P.O. Box 166, Spur 18D, Clay Center, NE 68933-0166, USA.
⁴ School of Natural Resources, East Campus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 101 Hardin Hall, Lincoln, NE 68583-0961, USA.
⁵ School of Natural Resources, East Campus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 101 Hardin Hall, Lincoln, NE 68583-0961, USA; Biological Systems Engineering Department, East Campus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 223 L.W. Chase Hall, P.O. Box 830726, Lincoln, NE 68583-0726, USA.
⁶ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-6105, USA. Electronic address: sbartelt2@unl.edu.

PMID: 32481204
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138296

Abstract

A wide variety of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals are used in livestock production systems and residues passed to the environment, often unmetabolized, after use and excretion. Antibiotic residues may be transported from manure-treated soils via runoff and are also capable of reaching surface and groundwater systems through a variety of pathways. The occurrence and persistence of antibiotics in the environment is a concern due to the potential for ecological effects and proliferation of environmental antibiotic resistance in pathogenic organisms. In the present study, the occurrence and seasonal variation of 24 commonly-used veterinary antibiotics was evaluated in surface water adjacent to several livestock production systems using Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Samplers (POCIS). Uptake rates for all compounds, nine of which have not been previously reported, were measured in the laboratory to permit estimation of changes in the time-weighted average (TWA) antibiotic concentrations during exposure. The antibiotics detected in POCIS extracts included sulfadimethoxine, sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim, sulfamerazine, sulfadiazine, lincomycin, erythromycin, erythromycin anhydro- and monensin. The maximum TWA concentration belonged to sulfadiazine (25 ng/L) in the August-September sampling period and coincided with the highest number of precipitation events. With the exception of monensin that showed an increase in concentration over the stream path, none of the detected antibiotics were prescribed to livestock at the facility. The detection of antibiotics not prescribed by the facility may be attributable to the environmental persistence of previously used antibiotics, transfer by wind from other nearby livestock production sites or industrial uses, and/or the natural production of some antibiotics.

Keywords: Antibiotics; Field sampling; POCIS; Passive sampling; Surface water.

MeSH terms

Animals
Anti-Bacterial Agents / analysis*
Cattle
Environmental Monitoring
Rivers
Water
Water Pollutants, Chemical / analysis*

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Water