National Priorities Grants: Evaluation of Antimicrobial Resistance in Wastewater and Sewage Sludge Treatment and Its Impact on the Environment
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment is a growing public health concern, especially the spread of AMR into surface waters. Antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) can move between humans, animals and the environment and make it more difficult to treat certain infections in animals and people. The World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have identified antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as one of the greatest threats to human health, and natural and treated water environments have increasingly been shown to play significant roles in AMR evolution and spread.
Wastewater treatment facilities are one of the major potential receptors and sources for ARB and ARGs. These facilities receive a mix of pathogens, resistant genes, and antimicrobial drug residues from multiple sources, including industry wastewater, households, and hospitals, all of which contribute to a high density of pathogens that enter the plant.
As treated wastewater is typically discharged to aquatic environments, these environments are potential exposure routes to transmit resistant pathogens and genes to humans and animals via irrigation, recreational use, or drinking water exposure. Although drinking water treatment processes are generally effective in reducing ARB and ARGs, both have nevertheless been detected in treated drinking water.
Because ARB and ARGs evolve rapidly and can move between the environment, humans, and animals, it is difficult to predict where and when resistance occurs. More information is needed to characterize the occurrence and significance of AMR found in treated municipal wastewater effluent and biosolids. In addition, new research is needed to provide a better understanding of the impact of AMR on receiving waters and risks related to AMR in treated wastewater discharge, water reuse, and biosolids.
To respond to these needs, EPA awarded $9 million in research grants to address knowledge gaps and better identify and manage antimicrobial resistance risk.
These projects will measure the environmental health impact of AMR in wastewater advance understanding in AMR evolution and spread. Grantees will study wastewater treatment systems across the country and review past literature and genomic data to assess AMR risk in wastewater. Projects involve developing a risk assessment framework, conducting a systematic review of genomic data and evaluating the fate of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria and genes in wastewater treatment processes.
To learn more, visit the funding opportunity webpage.
The following institutions received an award:
Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore.
Project Title: Prevalence, Abundance, and Fate of Antibiotics, Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, and their Determinant Genes in U.S. Wastewater Systems
Principal Investigator: Tala Navab-Daneshmand
Award Amount: $2,350,211
The objective of this project is to determine the fate of ARB and ARGs as well as antibiotics in wastewater treatment utilities across the U.S. Grantees will study 40 wastewater treatment utilities from five regions across the U.S. representing varied geographical conditions, population demographics, and wastewater sources over two years. Samples will be collected throughout the wastewater and biosolids treatment trains. The team will conduct a systematic review of literature on U.S.-based wastewater metagenomic data, create a comprehensive library, and conduct a meta-analysis to understand the impacts of seasonal/regional variations and treatment processes on wastewater resistome. This research will contribute to a better understanding of how wastewater treatment processes effect the proliferation and removal of AMR markers while considering different treatment trains, operational and site-specific parameters, watershed geography, and socioeconomic aspects.
View the research abstract from Oregon State University.
University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb.
Project Title: A Multistate Study to Establish a Risk Assessment Framework for the AMR in Surface Water Attributable to Municipal Wastewater and Biosolids
Principal Investigator: Xu Li
Award Amount: $2,374,999
Researchers will establish a risk assessment framework that can estimate human health risks based on measurements of ARB and ARGs in surface water under the influence of municipal wastewater and biosolids. The project will use an integrated approach combining field data, model simulation, and risk assessment. Through collaborations among institutions in five states (Hawaii, California, Nebraska, Iowa, and New Jersey), the project will reveal the relative contributions of municipal, nonmunicipal, and natural sources to the AMR in surface waters for river systems in the four states. Fate-and-transport models for ARB and ARGs in runoff and rivers will be developed, and an exposure assessment model for ARB as well as a semi-quantitative risk characterization model for ARGs will be developed to improve stakeholders’ abilities to understand risks and develop/prioritize mitigation strategies.
View the research abstract from the University of Nebraska.
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wis.
Project Title: Understanding the Role of Wastewater Treatment for Mitigating Antimicrobial Resistance: Leveraging Historical Trajectories, Current Day Mass Balances, and Clinical Relevance
Principal Investigator: Ryan Newton
Award Amount: $2,038,572
Grantees will distinguish effective treatment processes for the removal of AMR and quantify and contextualize risks associated with wastewater treatment systems against industrial and agricultural sectors connected to AMR. Researchers will integrate ARG and ARB quantification and genomic and metagenomic-based DNA sequencing to determine changes in clinically relevant genotypes from treatment facility influent through the treatment train and ultimately to facility outflows. The team will also compare current wastewater resistance profiles to those from wastewater collected over the past 10 years, current ARBs and ARGs from hospital clinics, and both upstream (sewer overflows) and downstream (river transect) systems. This project will provide critical information for whether current treatment systems are effectively removing AMR. These analyses will also provide an understanding and quantification of the clinical significance of discharged AMR, and therefore risk associated with wastewater discharge.
View the research abstract from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Water Research Foundation, Denver, Colo.
Project Title: Quantifying Wastewater Sources of Antibiotic Resistance to Aquatic and Soil Environments and Associated Human Health Risks
Principal Investigator: Lola Olabode
Award Amount: $2,374,575
The team will produce a comprehensive study of antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistant genes in wastewater treatment plant effluent and biosolids to measure and model their fate including potential for ARB/ARG increase or decrease in aquatic and soil environments. Researchers will compare wastewater sources of AMR with other sources in communities across the US with different wastewater effluent and management approaches. A comprehensive risk assessment modeling framework tailored to the unique aspects of AMR will be developed to evaluate potential mitigation options, identify scenarios where AMR spread is most likely and improve exposure estimates.
View the research abstract from the Water Research Foundation.
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