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Occurrence of antibiotics in the Xiaoqing River basin and antibiotic source contribution-a case study of Jinan city, China

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Abstract

Twenty antibiotics were investigated to evaluate the degree of antibiotic pollution, the temporal and spatial antibiotic distribution and the ecological risks in the Xiaoqing River basin (main stream). The total antibiotic concentrations in surface water and sediment were 0.99 to 832.4 ng L−1 and 9.71 to 7841.61 ng g−1, respectively, and that ofloxacin was the dominant antibiotic. However, ofloxacin, erythromycin, clarithromycin and sulfamethoxazole posed high risks to algae, among which clarithromycin presented the highest risk quotients (23.8). In addition, there were spatial and temporal differences in the antibiotic concentration distribution. Temporally, the following trend was detected: dry season > normal season > wet season; spatially, the following trend was detected: Jinan > Dongying > Binzhou > Zibo > Weifang. Meanwhile, we used the PCA-MLR model to quantify the contribution rate of the four sewage treatment plants A, B, C and D. Factor 1 (co-sources A, B, C, D) contributed 64.1% of the total antibiotic concentration in the Xiaoqing River. According to the estimated flux into the sea, approximately 972.31 kg of antibiotics were discharged into Bohai Bay in 2017, posing a potential threat to the marine ecosystem. As a comprehensive river channel used for flood control, waterlogging, irrigation and shipping, its water quality safety is of great significance to the surrounding residents and ecological safety. Therefore, further investigations of antibiotic pollution and source contribution are necessary.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41672340).

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Author notes

  1. Miaowei Ci and Guodong Zhang are co-first Author.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geography and Environment, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250358, China

    Miaowei Ci, Guodong Zhang & Weiliang Wang

  2. Institute of Environment and Ecology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250358, China

    Miaowei Ci, Weiliang Wang & Yuqi Fan

  3. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, 712100, China

    Guodong Zhang

  4. Heze Zhongkecheng Sewage Purification Co., Ltd., Heze, 274000, China

    Xianshou Yan

  5. Beijing Enterprises Water Group Limited, Beijing, 100000, China

    Xianshou Yan

  6. Shandong Academy of Environmental Science Co., Ltd., Jinan, 250013, China

    Wenping Dong

  7. Shandong Think-eee Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., Jinan, 250101, China

    Wenfeng Xu

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  1. Miaowei Ci
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Contributions

Miaowei Ci participates in all processes including the experimental part and article writing; Guodong Zhang is responsible for the analysis of the chapter of the article “Source contribution-a case of Jinan city” and experimental; Xianshou Yan is responsible for sampling and experiment; Wenping Dong and Wenfeng Xu are responsible for providing technical support for the experiment and Weiliang Wang and Yuqi Fan are responsible for providing opinions on the revision of the article.

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Ci, M., Zhang, G., Yan, X. et al. Occurrence of antibiotics in the Xiaoqing River basin and antibiotic source contribution-a case study of Jinan city, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 25241–25254 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-12202-z

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