Environmental dissemination and accumulation of antibiotic pharmazeuticals, pathogens, and resistance determinants as caused by wastewater irrigation
Subject Area
Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
Soil Sciences
Term
from 2010 to 2015
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 162311074
Wastewater reuse for irrigafion and artificial groundwater recharge is increasingly pracficed worldwide to improve the production of food and to alleviate water shortages. Pharmaceuticals, pathogens, and resistance determinants that are released into the environment together with the wastewater pose a potential risk to environmental and human health. Little is known, however, regarding the processes that control the disseminafion and accumulafion of wastewater-derived pharmaceuticals, pathogens, and resistance determinants in the environment. We propose to study transport, dissipation, and accumulafion of anfibiofic pharmaceuficals in different environmental compartments of the Mexico City/Mezquital Valley wastewater irrigation sytem in relation to the disseminafion of pathogens and antibiofic resistance with a consortium of environmental scientists, microbiologists, and medical scientists. The collaboration between Mexican and German scienfist in this joint project brings together the experience of the participating german scienfists in the environmental behaviour of pharmaceuficals and resistance determinants and the knowledge of the Mexican scienfists on wastewater irrigafion and soil aquifer treatment, which offers a unique chance for studying the Mexico City/Mezquital Valley case as a model to explore processes governing the magnitude of environmental and health risks emerging from wastewater reuse.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
Mexico
