Abstract

Extracellular polymer substances (EPS) comprised of proteins, carbohydrates, and other biomolecules, are important for microbiological communities. The EPS provides benefits to wastewater treatment communities (WWTC) such as antibiotic resistance, and community structure. Therefore EPS can be viewed as a valuable health marker of WWTC and therefore it is important to determine effects of contaminants entering wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) on EPS. WWTC were exposed to the non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug (NSAID) Ibuprofen at 16 ng/mL and 100 ng/mL, and the antibiotic tetracycline at 50 ng/mL to determine how EPS and growth were affected. EPS was analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Bradford protein analysis, and Anthrone carbohydrate analysis. It was determined that EPS content was lower at both Ibuprofen concentrations, enhanced with tetracycline, and comparable to control when both were present. Changes could not be linked to protein or carbohydrate concentration. Growth inhibition occurred in the presence of both drugs but not each individually, suggesting that Ibuprofen may increase tetracycline sensitivity through EPS inhibition.

Highlights

  • In large urban areas, Canadian wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are responsible for treating as much as 150 Mega litres per day of raw sewage

  • Tetracycline was viewed as a stressor and as a result led to a significantly higher concentration of Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) produced; Ibuprofen on the other hand had the opposite effect of lowering the amount of EPS detected

  • In both cases the individual contaminants did not illicit an inhibition in the growth rate of the Wastewater treatment community (WWTC); when both were present in the same sample there was a significant decrease in the growth rate as compared to the control even when measured EPS was not significantly different that found in the control sample

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Summary

Introduction

Canadian wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are responsible for treating as much as 150 Mega litres per day of raw sewage. While the processes behind WWTPs are expected to become more efficient, this increased efficiency is not expected to be on par with increased nutrient rates (OECD, 2012) What this means is that barring other types of contaminants entering WWTPs, the plants will be enduring increasing challenges to remove xenobiotics in the coming years; something that needs to be taken into consideration when determining how to deal with the new contaminants and their effects on the processes that occur within these plants. This is especially important, considering that WWTPs are often the only treatment processes for sewage before it is released into the environment. If they are incapable of removing contaminants, this could lead to a positive feedback loop where incoming contaminants can have greater effects

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