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The prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in waters of the Lower Ballona Creek Watershed, Los Angeles County, California

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Abstract

Screening for the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) was done at the Ballona Creek and Wetlands, an urban-impacted wetland system in Los Angeles, California. The goals were (1) to assess the overall prevalence of ARB, and (2) compare differences in ARB abundance and the types of antibiotic resistance (AR) among the following sample types: lagoon water from Del Rey Lagoon, urban runoff from Ballona Creek, and water from the Ballona Wetlands (tidal water flooding in from the adjacent estuary, and ebbing out from the salt marsh). Antibiotic resistance distributions were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to develop the cumulative frequency of bacteria having resistance of up to eight antibiotics. Distributions from the environmental water samples were compared to unchlorinated secondary effluent from the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant that was used as comparator samples likely to have an abundance of ARB. As expected, densities of total and ARB were highest in secondary effluent, followed by urban runoff. Samples of water flooding into the wetlands showed similar results to urban runoff; however, a reduction in densities of total and ARB occurred in water ebbing out of the wetlands. During preliminary work to identify ARB species, several bacterial species of relevance to human illness (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus hirae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Aeromonas veronii, Enterobacter cancerogenus, Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas stutzeri, and Staphylococcus intermedius) were isolated from sampled waters. If wetlands are a sink for ARB, construction and restoration of wetlands can help in the mediation of this human and environmental health concern.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge many students in LMU’s College of Science and Engineering who worked on this project. Many were supported through Rains Scholarship and the Summer Undergraduate Research Program funding, both through Loyola Marymount University. Additional funding was provided by LMU’s Department of Biology for laboratory supplies and materials. Karina Johnston (Santa Monica Bay Foundation) arranged access into the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve. Leslie Sidio (Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant) provided samples of secondary effluent for testing. David Cummings (Point Loma Nazarene University) kindly reviewed a draft manuscript, and provided excellent recommendations.

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  1. Loyola Marymount University, 1 LMU Drive, LSB 101, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, USA

    Stephanie Kawecki, John H. Dorsey & Michelle Lum

  2. University of Detroit Mercy, 4001 W. McNichols Road, Detroit, MI, 48221, USA

    Gary Kuleck

  3. Michael Baker International, 5050 Avenida Encinas, Suite 260, Carlsbad, CA, 92008, USA

    Christopher Leary

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  1. Stephanie Kawecki
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Correspondence to Stephanie Kawecki.

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Kawecki, S., Kuleck, G., Dorsey, J.H. et al. The prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) in waters of the Lower Ballona Creek Watershed, Los Angeles County, California. Environ Monit Assess 189, 261 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-5964-9

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