Accounting for microorganisms yields stricter water quality criteria and elevated ecological risks of antibiotics: A case study of sulfonamides in the Yangtze River Delta
The derivation of water quality criteria (WQC) for antibiotics is influenced by the inclusion of various organisms' toxicity data, including microbial data, though no definitive conclusions have been reached. This study focuses on sulfonamide antibiotics, common in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD)...
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651324017263 |
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| author | Xinyang Zhang Xiao Yun Ye Huang Guofeng Shen Nan Lin |
| author_facet | Xinyang Zhang Xiao Yun Ye Huang Guofeng Shen Nan Lin |
| author_sort | Xinyang Zhang |
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| description | The derivation of water quality criteria (WQC) for antibiotics is influenced by the inclusion of various organisms' toxicity data, including microbial data, though no definitive conclusions have been reached. This study focuses on sulfonamide antibiotics, common in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), to assess the influences of different organisms' toxicity data on determining WQCs and subsequent evaluation of ecological risks. A total of 263 toxicity data points from eight sulfonamides, including sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and sulfamethazine (SM2), were selected to derive WQCs using Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) methods. Three WQC types were calculated: based on native species (WQC-n), a combination of native and non-native species (WQC-nn), and a combination of species and microorganisms (WQC-nnm). While WQC-nn showed minimal differences from WQC-n, the inclusion of microbial data resulted in more conservative short-term WQCs (SWQC-nnm), calculated as 256.90 μg/L for SMX and 196.09 μg/L for SM2, approximately half of SWQC-nn values (435.20 μg/L for SMX and 491.11 μg/L for SM2). Monitoring data from the past 15 years in the YRD revealed a 133 % increase in ecological risks when using LWQC-nnm compared to LWQC-n and LWQC-nn, particularly under the worst-case pollution scenarios. However, there was a slight temporal decline in overall ecological risks. The study concludes that incorporating microbial toxicity data results in more protective WQCs and underscores the need for further research to develop WQCs that safeguard sensitive organisms and better reflect real-world exposure scenarios, e.g., the mixture exposure. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e8fd1b706d0749b0a4265ccf8b577bc5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0147-6513 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
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| series | Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety |
| spelling | doaj-art-e8fd1b706d0749b0a4265ccf8b577bc52025-01-23T05:25:58ZengElsevierEcotoxicology and Environmental Safety0147-65132025-01-01289117650Accounting for microorganisms yields stricter water quality criteria and elevated ecological risks of antibiotics: A case study of sulfonamides in the Yangtze River DeltaXinyang Zhang0Xiao Yun1Ye Huang2Guofeng Shen3Nan Lin4School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200025, ChinaChina Energy Longyuan Environmental Protection Co., Ltd., Beijing 100039, China; National Engineering Research Center of New Energy Power Generation, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, ChinaKey Laboratory of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, ChinaCollege of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, ChinaSchool of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200025, China; Correspondence to: Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 280 South Chongqing Rd, Shanghai 200025, China.The derivation of water quality criteria (WQC) for antibiotics is influenced by the inclusion of various organisms' toxicity data, including microbial data, though no definitive conclusions have been reached. This study focuses on sulfonamide antibiotics, common in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), to assess the influences of different organisms' toxicity data on determining WQCs and subsequent evaluation of ecological risks. A total of 263 toxicity data points from eight sulfonamides, including sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and sulfamethazine (SM2), were selected to derive WQCs using Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) methods. Three WQC types were calculated: based on native species (WQC-n), a combination of native and non-native species (WQC-nn), and a combination of species and microorganisms (WQC-nnm). While WQC-nn showed minimal differences from WQC-n, the inclusion of microbial data resulted in more conservative short-term WQCs (SWQC-nnm), calculated as 256.90 μg/L for SMX and 196.09 μg/L for SM2, approximately half of SWQC-nn values (435.20 μg/L for SMX and 491.11 μg/L for SM2). Monitoring data from the past 15 years in the YRD revealed a 133 % increase in ecological risks when using LWQC-nnm compared to LWQC-n and LWQC-nn, particularly under the worst-case pollution scenarios. However, there was a slight temporal decline in overall ecological risks. The study concludes that incorporating microbial toxicity data results in more protective WQCs and underscores the need for further research to develop WQCs that safeguard sensitive organisms and better reflect real-world exposure scenarios, e.g., the mixture exposure.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651324017263AntibioticsWater quality criteriaEcological riskFresh waterYangtze River Delta |
| spellingShingle | Xinyang Zhang Xiao Yun Ye Huang Guofeng Shen Nan Lin Accounting for microorganisms yields stricter water quality criteria and elevated ecological risks of antibiotics: A case study of sulfonamides in the Yangtze River Delta Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety Antibiotics Water quality criteria Ecological risk Fresh water Yangtze River Delta |
| title | Accounting for microorganisms yields stricter water quality criteria and elevated ecological risks of antibiotics: A case study of sulfonamides in the Yangtze River Delta |
| title_full | Accounting for microorganisms yields stricter water quality criteria and elevated ecological risks of antibiotics: A case study of sulfonamides in the Yangtze River Delta |
| title_fullStr | Accounting for microorganisms yields stricter water quality criteria and elevated ecological risks of antibiotics: A case study of sulfonamides in the Yangtze River Delta |
| title_full_unstemmed | Accounting for microorganisms yields stricter water quality criteria and elevated ecological risks of antibiotics: A case study of sulfonamides in the Yangtze River Delta |
| title_short | Accounting for microorganisms yields stricter water quality criteria and elevated ecological risks of antibiotics: A case study of sulfonamides in the Yangtze River Delta |
| title_sort | accounting for microorganisms yields stricter water quality criteria and elevated ecological risks of antibiotics a case study of sulfonamides in the yangtze river delta |
| topic | Antibiotics Water quality criteria Ecological risk Fresh water Yangtze River Delta |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651324017263 |
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