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River biofilm community changes related to pharmaceutical loads emitted by a wastewater treatment plant
2018
Chonova, Teofana | Labanowski, Jérôme | Cournoyer, Benoit | Chardon, Cècile | Keck, François | Laurent, Elodie | Mondamert, Leslie | Vasselon, Valentin | Wiest, Laure | Bouchez, Agnes | Centre Alpin de Recherche sur les Réseaux Trophiques et Ecosystèmes Limniques (CARRTEL) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry]) | Déchets Eaux Environnement Pollutions (DEEP) ; Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (INSA Lyon) ; Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA)-Université de Lyon-Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) | Institut de Chimie des Milieux et Matériaux de Poitiers (IC2MP) ; Université de Poitiers-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Laboratoire d'Ecologie Microbienne - UMR 5557 (LEM) ; Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL) ; Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Lyon (ENVL)-VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | ISA-TRACES - Technologie et Recherche en Analyse Chimique pour l'Environnement et la Santé ; Institut des Sciences Analytiques (ISA) ; Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL) ; Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL) ; Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | This study was partly funded by Anses project "persist-env" #2012/2/149 of the "Programme Environnement-Sante-Travail" (French Ministers in charge of ecological and environmental issues). This study was part of the SIPIBEL field observatory on hospital's effluents and urban WWTPs. We thank our institutions for partial funding of this work.
The work was done in collaboration with V. Lecomte (GRAIE). We thank B. Montuelle, F. Rimet, R. Sommaruga, and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript. | International audience | Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are the main sources of a broad spectrum of pharmaceuticals found in freshwater ecosystems. These pollutants raise environmental health concerns because of their highly bioactive nature and their chronic releases. Despite this, pharmaceuticals' effects on aquatic environments are poorly defined. Biofilms represent a major part of the microbial life in rivers and streams. They can drive key metabolic cycles and their organizations reflect exposures to changing chemical, physical, and biological constraints. This study estimated the concentrations, over a 3-year period, of ten pharmaceuticals and five nutrients in a river contaminated by a conventional WWTP fed by urban and hospital wastewaters. Variations in these concentrations were related to biofilm bacterial community dynamics. Rock biofilms had developed over defined periods and were harvested at four locations in the river from the up- and downstream WWTP discharge point. Pharmaceuticals were found in all locations in concentrations ranging from not being detected to 192 ng L-1. Despite the high dilution factor of the WWTP effluents by the receiving river, pharmaceuticals were found more concentrated downstream than upstream the WWTP. Shifts in bacterial community structures linked to the environmental emission of pharmaceuticals were superior to seasonal community changes. A community structure from a site located downstream but close to the WWTP was more strongly associated with high pharmaceutical loads and different from those of biofilm samples from the WWTP upstream or far downstream sites. These latter sites were more strongly associated with high nutrient contents. Low environmental concentrations of pharmaceuticals can thus be transferred from WWTP effluents to a connected stream and induce bacterial aquatic community changes over time.
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