2026-04-17T20:23:16Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:2117/3676362026-01-16T06:29:37Zcom_2072_1033col_2072_452950

New insights on the combined removal of antibiotics and ARGs in urban wastewater through the use of two configurations of vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands Ávila, Cristina García Galán, María Jesús Borrego, Carles Rodríguez Mozaz, Sara García Serrano, Joan Barceló Cullerès, Damià Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Civil i Ambiental Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. GEMMA - Grup d'Enginyeria i Microbiologia del Medi Ambient Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria civil::Enginyeria hidràulica, marítima i sanitària::Enginyeria sanitària Sewage -- Analysis Antibiotics -- Environmental aspects Contaminants of emerging concern Antibiotics Antibiotic resistant genes Wastewater treatment Nature-based solutions Treatment wetlands Antibiòtics Aigües residuals -- Anàlisi The occurrence and removal of 49 antibiotics and 11 selected antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were investigated in 2 vertical subsurface flow (VF) constructed wetlands (1.5 m2 each): an unsaturated (UVF) unit and a partially saturated (SVF) unit (0.35 m saturated out of 0.8 m) operating in parallel and treating urban wastewater. Thirteen antibiotics were detected in influent wastewater, 6 of which were present in all samples. The SVF showed statistical significance on the removal of 4 compounds (namely ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, pipemidic acid and azithromycin), suggesting that the wider range of pH and/or redox conditions of this configuration might promote the microbial degradation of some antibiotics. In contrast, the concentration of the latter (except pipemidic acid) and also clindamycin was higher in the effluent than in the influent of the UVF. Five ARGs were detected in influent wastewater, sul1 and sul2, blaTEM, ermB and qnrS. All of them were detected also in the biofilm of both wetlands, except qnrS. Average removal rates of ARGs showed no statistical differences between both wetland units, and ranged between 46 and 97% for sul1, 33 and 97% for sul2, 9 and 99% for ermB, 18 and 97% for qnrS and 11 and 98% for blaTEM. Authors thank Generalitat de Catalunya through Consolidated Research Group (ICRA-ENV 2017 SGR 1124 & 2017 SGR 1404). C. Ávila, M. J. García-Galán and S. Rodríguez-Mozaz would like to thank the Spanish State Research Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (AEI-MCIU) for their research fellowships FJCI-2014-22245,IJCI-2017-34601 and RYC-2014-16707, respectively. Peer Reviewed Postprint (published version) 2021-02 Article Ávila, C. [et al.]. New insights on the combined removal of antibiotics and ARGs in urban wastewater through the use of two configurations of vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands. "Science of the total environment", Febrer 2021, vol. 755, núm. part 2, p. 142554:1-142554:12. 0048-9697 https://hdl.handle.net/2117/367636 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142554 eng https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969720360836 © 2021. Elsevier http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Open Access Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International application/pdf Elsevier