AWWA WQTC65795

Antibiotics enter the environment via a number of pathways due to their widespread use in human and veterinary medicine, potentially contributing to the environmental development of antimicrobial resistance as well as compromised surface and drinking water quality. Analytical methods for detecting antibiotics in various environmental matrices have recently been developed, providing the necessary basis for occurrence and toxicological studies. The presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in aquatic environments has triggered public attention in recent years due to growing awareness of potential ecological and public health consequences of these compounds in the environment. This paper presents the results of the occurrence, fate, and transport of 26 antibiotics, which are a subset of the broader pharmaceutical and personal care products category, through five watersheds impacted from upstream wastewater discharges and/or agricultural runoff using a validated analytical method including liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for compound identification. Particular focus was given to assessing sediment adsorption as a fate and transport mechanism. Includes 6 references, tables.