Antibiotic fate and transport in three effluent-dominated Ozark streams

Antibiotic transport downstream from a wastewater treatment plant effluent discharge was evaluated along stream reaches on Mud Creek, Spring Creek, and Decatur Branch in northwestern Arkansas, USA. Water and streambed samples were collected during August and September 2006 and analyzed for multiple antibiotics representing five classes (beta-lactams, macrolides, quinolones, sulfonamides, and tetracyclines). Antibiotics within the classes macrolides, quinolones, and sulfonamides were detected in the water column at all three stream reaches. Several of these same antibiotics, as well as antibiotics from the class tetracycline, were measured in streambed material at quantities significantly greater than those observed in the water column. Pseudo-partitioning coefficients ranged from 4 to >8000 L kg⁻¹. Most of the antibiotics studied were significantly retained in the reaches at Mud Creek and Spring Creek and traveled kilometer-scale distances (S_net, 3.3–20.2 km) with low uptake velocities (vf-net">vf-net, 2.9–16.1 × 10⁻⁶ m s⁻¹) and rates (U_net 0.01–37.9 × 10⁻⁶ μg m⁻² s⁻¹). Some antibiotics increased in concentration downstream from the effluent discharge at Decatur Branch, suggesting possible release from within the fluvial channel or additional sources along the stream reach. In general, antibiotics traveled kilometer-scale distances before significant dilution occurred through in-stream processes (e.g., advection, dispersion, sorption, uptake and/or degradation) within the fluvial channel of these effluent-dominated streams.