Monitoring of Water Quality, Antibiotic Residues, and Antibiotic-Resistant Escherichiacoli in the Kshipra River in India over a 3-Year Period

Abstract

The emergence of antibiotic resistance is a major global and environmental health issue, yet the presence of antibiotic residues and resistance in the water and sediment of a river subjected to excessive anthropogenic activities and their relationship with water quality of the river are not well studied. The objectives of the present study were a) to investigate the occurrence of antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant Escherichiacoli (E.coli) in the water and sediment of the Kshipra river in India at seven selected sites during different seasons of the years 2014, 2015, and 2016 and b) to investigate the association between antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant E.coli in water and sediment and measured water quality parameters of the river. Antibiotic residues and resistant E.coli were present in the water and sediment and were associated with the measured water quality parameters. Sulfamethoxazole was the most frequently detected antibiotic in water at the highest concentration of 4.66 µg/L and was positively correlated with the water quality parameters. Significant (p < 0.05) seasonal and spatial variations of antibiotic-resistant E.coli in water and sediment were found. The resistance of E.coli to antibiotics (e.g., sulfamethiazole, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacine, cefotaxime, co-trimoxazole, ceftazidime, meropenem, ampicillin, amikacin, metronidazole, tetracycline, and tigecycline) had varying associations with the measured water and sediment quality parameters. Based on the results of this study, it is suggested that regular monitoring and surveillance of water quality, including antibiotic residues and antibiotic resistance, of all rivers should be taken up as a key priority, in national and Global Action Plans as these can have implications for the buildup of antibiotic resistance.

Keywords: antibiotic residues; antibiotic-resistant E. coli; environmental pollution; river water and sediment; water quality.

Figure 1

Geographical location of the study site. The map shows (clockwise) India, Madhya Pradesh, the sampling points on the Kshipra river, and Ujjain district. Note: Necessary required data are digitized into shape files. Spatial formatted vector data are converted into shape files and georeferenced. Lambert Conformal Conic Projection is selected to georeference the shapefile. All shapefile features, i.e., the River Kshipra, Khan and minor tributaries, were acquired from base map of ArcInfo, and Google image. Locations of study sampling points were obtained through a field survey using GPS. ArcMap 10.7.1 (ESRI, Redlands, CA, USA) was used to develop all lines as well as for point vectorization and map composition. Map boundaries of India, Madhya Pradesh and districts were taken from the GADM database (https://gadm.org/) where these are available freely for academic purposes. Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were treated as one administrative division as the boundary maps separating the two were not available in the retrieved databases.

Figure 2

Concentrations of antibiotic residues measured in waters of the Kshipra river in India in various seasons and at various sites over a 3-year period. Note: significant (p < 0.05) seasonal and spatial variations in the occurrence of sulfamethoxazole and ofloxacin were found over a 3-year period. Information for all antibiotics is available in Table S4.

Figure 3

Antibiotic resistance patterns in E. coli isolated from water samples of the Kshipra river in India in various seasons and at various sites over a 3-year period. Note: significant (p < 0.05) seasonal and spatial variations in the resistance of E. coli to amikacin, ampicillin, co-trimoxazole, cefepime, meropenem, nalidixic acid, sulfamethizole, and tetracycline were found over the 3-year period. Information for all antibiotics is available in Table 1. Abbreviations: AK: Amikacin, AMP: Ampicillin, COT: Co-trimoxazole, CPM: Cefepime, MRP: Meropenem, NA: Nalidixic Acid, SM: Sulfamethizole, TE: Tetracycline.

Figure 4

Antibiotic resistance patterns in E. coli isolated from sediment samples of the Kshipra river in India in various seasons and at various sites over a 3-year period. Abbreviations: AMP: Ampicillin, CAZ: Ceftazidime, CTX: Cefotaxime, MRP: Meropenem, NIT: Nitrofurantoin. Note: significant (p < 0.05) seasonal and spatial variations in the resistance of E. coli to ampicillin, ceftazidime, cefotaxime, meropenem, and nitrofurantoin were found over the 3-year period. Information for all antibiotics is available in Table S6.