Towards the understanding of antibiotic occurrence and transport in groundwater: Findings from the Baix Fluvià alluvial aquifer (NE Catalonia, Spain).

Antibiotics are an increasing focus of interest due to their high detection frequency in the environment. However, their presence in water bodies is not regulated by environmental policies. This field study investigates, for the first time, the occurrence, behavior and fate of a selection of 53 antibiotics, including up to 10 chemical groups, in an alluvial aquifer originated from manure application in an agricultural region using hydrogeological, hydrochemical and isotopic approaches. Up to 11 antibiotics were found in groundwater corresponding to 4 different chemical groups: fluoroquinolones, macrolides, quinolones and sulfonamides. In surface water, only 5 different antibiotics from 2 chemical groups: fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides, were quantified. The most frequent antibiotics were sulfamethoxazole and ciprofloxacin. Concentrations of antibiotics were in the order of ng/L, with maximum concentrations of 300ng/L in groundwater. Hydrochemistry and isotopic data and geostatistics confirmed the spatial trend observed for nitrates, where nitrate concentrations tend to be higher in the margin areas of the study area, and lower concentrations are found nearby the river. On the other hand, no clear continuous spatial concentration trend of antibiotics was observed in the aquifer, supported by the short spatial correlation found in the variograms. This indicates that the physical-chemical properties and processes of each antibiotic (mainly, sorption and degradation), and other environmental issues, such as a patchy diffuse input and the manure antibiotic content itself, play an important role in their spatial distribution in groundwater. A discussion on the estimation of the antibiotic sorption parameter reveals the difficulties of describing such phenomena. Furthermore, retardation factors will extend over several orders of magnitude, which highly affects the movement of individual antibiotics within the aquifer. To summarize, this study points out the difficulties associated with antibiotic research in groundwater in order to define water resources quality management strategies and environmental regulations.

Identification of nitrate leaching loss indicators through regression methods based on a meta-analysis of lysimeter studies.

This study presents a meta-analysis of 12 experiments that quantify nitrate-N leaching losses from grazed pasture systems in alluvial sedimentary soils in Canterbury (New Zealand). Mean measured nitrate-N leached (kg N/ha × 100 mm drainage) losses were 2.7 when no urine was applied, 8.4 at the urine rate of 300 kg N/ha, 9.8 at 500 kg N/ha, 24.5 at 700 kg N/ha and 51.4 at 1000 kg N/ha. Lismore soils presented significantly higher nitrate-N losses compared to Templeton soils. Moreover, a multiple linear regression (MLR) model was developed to determine the key factors that influence nitrate-N leaching and to predict nitrate-N leaching losses. The MLR analyses was calibrated and validated using 82 average values of nitrate-N leached and 48 explanatory variables representative of nitrogen inputs and outputs, transport, attenuation of nitrogen and farm management practices. The MLR model (R (2) = 0.81) showed that nitrate-N leaching losses were greater at higher urine application rates and when there was more drainage from rainfall and irrigation. On the other hand, nitrate leaching decreased when nitrification inhibitors (e.g. dicyandiamide (DCD)) were applied. Predicted nitrate-N leaching losses at the paddock scale were calculated using the MLR equation, and they varied largely depending on the urine application rate and urine patch coverage.