Plastic pollution and human pathogens: Towards a conceptual shift in risk management at bathing water and beach environments.

Emerging evidence indicates that micro- and macro-plastics present in water can support a diverse microbial community, including potential human pathogens (e.g., bacteria, viruses). This interaction raises important concerns surrounding the role and suitability of current bathing water regulations and associated pathogen exposure risk within beach environments. In response to this, we critically evaluated the available evidence on plastic-pathogen interactions and identified major gaps in knowledge. This review highlighted the need for a conceptual shift in risk management at public beaches recognising: (i) interconnected environmental risks, e.g., associations between microbial compliance parameters, potential pathogens and both contemporary and legacy plastic pollution; and (ii) an appreciation of risk of exposure to plastic co-pollutants for both water and waterside users. We present a decision-making framework to identify options to manage plastic-associated pathogen risks alongside short- and longer-term research priorities. This advance will help deliver improvements in managing plastic-associated pathogen risk, acknowledging that human exposure potential is not limited to only those who engage in water-based activity. We argue that adopting these recommendations will help create an integrated approach to managing and reducing human exposure to pathogens at bathing, recreational water and beach environments.

Selective microbial attachment to LDPE plastic beads during passage through the wastewater network.

Urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) represent key point-source discharges of microplastics (MP) into the environment, however, little is known about the microbial carrying capacity of plastics travelling through them. The purpose of this study was to quantify the number of cells that become associated with MP at different locations within a WWTP, and to assess differences in microbiome communities. We conducted a field experiment incubating low density polyethylene (LDPE) MP beads in WWTP influent and effluent, as well as tracking free floating beads during passage in wastewater from a large municipal hospital to an urban WWTP, where they were subsequently recovered. Using two cell counting methods - automated flow cytometric true absolute cell counts and indirect cell quantification via protein content based on a model E. coli cell - we quantified cell attachment to LDPE beads. LDPE associated counts ranged from 350 x 103 cells cm-2 after incubation in wastewater effluent, and 990 x 103 cells cm-2 after incubation in wastewater influent. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was used to determine the bacterial community structure of the plastic-associated microbiomes. Our results showed that distinct bacterial communities developed on the LDPE MP following exposure to each wastewater type. Influent (untreated) wastewater LDPE-associated microbiomes were dominated by Bacillota whereas the microbes that attached in wastewater effluent (tertiary treated) were dominated by Pseudomonadota. In conclusion, this study provides clear evidence that microplastics migrating through the sewer network and WWTP rapidly accumulate microbiomes with unique microbial community structures varying from sewage influent to effluent. These findings demonstrate the differential microbiological risk from MP associated with routine wastewater discharges to those released from intermittent combined sewer overflows (CSOs) during storm events.

Microbial communities colonising plastics during transition from the wastewater treatment plant to marine waters.

BACKGROUND: Plastics pollution and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are two major environmental threats, but potential connections between plastic associated biofilms, the 'plastisphere', and dissemination of AMR genes are not well explored. RESULTS: We conducted mesocosm experiments tracking microbial community changes on plastic surfaces transitioning from wastewater effluent to marine environments over 16 weeks. Commonly used plastics, polypropylene (PP), high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) incubated in wastewater effluent, river water, estuarine water, and in the seawater for 16 weeks, were analysed via 16S rRNA gene amplicon and shotgun metagenome sequencing. Within one week, plastic-colonizing communities shifted from wastewater effluent-associated microorganisms to marine taxa, some members of which (e.g. Oleibacter-Thalassolituus and Sphingomonas spp., on PET, Alcanivoracaceae on PET and PP, or Oleiphilaceae, on all polymers), were selectively enriched from levels undetectable in the starting communities. Remarkably, microbial biofilms were also susceptible to parasitism, with Saprospiraceae feeding on biofilms at late colonisation stages (from week 6 onwards), while Bdellovibrionaceae were prominently present on HDPE from week 2 and LDPE from day 1. Relative AMR gene abundance declined over time, and plastics did not become enriched for key AMR genes after wastewater exposure. CONCLUSION: Although some resistance genes occurred during the mesocosm transition on plastic substrata, those originated from the seawater organisms. Overall, plastic surfaces incubated in wastewater did not act as hotspots for AMR proliferation in simulated marine environments.