Alternating water sources to minimize contaminant accumulation in food plants from treated wastewater irrigation.

The use of treated wastewater (TWW) for agricultural irrigation is a critical measure in advancing sustainable water management and agricultural production. However, TWW irrigation in agriculture serves as a conduit to introduce many contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) into the soil-plant-food continuum, posing potential environmental and human health risks. Currently, there are few practical options to mitigate the potential risk while promoting the safe reuse of TWW. In this greenhouse study, the accumulation of 11 commonly occurring CECs was evaluated in three vegetables (radish, lettuce, and tomato) subjected to two different irrigation schemes: whole-season irrigation with CEC-spiked water (FULL), and half-season irrigation with CEC-spiked water, followed by irrigation with clean water for the remaining season (HALF). Significant decreases (57.0-99.8 %, p < 0.05) in the accumulation of meprobamate, carbamazepine, PFBS, PFBA, and PFHxA in edible tissues were found for the HALF treatment with the alternating irrigation scheme. The CEC accumulation reduction was attributed to reduced chemical input, soil degradation, plant metabolism, and plant growth dilution. The structural equation modeling showed that this mitigation strategy was particularly effective for CECs with a high bioaccumulation potential and short half-life in soil, while less effective for those that are more persistent. The study findings demonstrate the effectiveness of this simple and on-farm applicable management strategy that can be used to minimize the potential contamination of food crops from the use of TWW and other marginal water sources in agriculture, while promoting safe reuse and contributing to environmental sustainability.

Fate of contaminants of emerging concern in two wastewater treatment plants after retrofitting tertiary treatment for reduction of nitrogen discharge.

More and more previously designed wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are upgraded to tertiary treatment to meet the higher effluent discharge standards of conventional pollutants. Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) can cause adverse effects on organisms and usually flow into WWTPs along with urban sewage. How the retrofitted WWTPs targeting conventional pollutants will influence the treatment efficiency of CECs is seldom discussed. This study investigates the removal of CECs in two full-scale newly retrofitted WWTPs (CD and JM WWTPs), containing high-efficiency sedimentation tank and denitrification deep bed filter for enhancing total nitrogen removal. The overall CEC removal efficiencies in the CD and JM WWTPs were 73.79 % and 93.63 %, respectively. Mass balance results indicated that CD WWTP and JM WWTP release a total of 36.89 and 88.58 g/d of CECs into the environment through effluent and excess sludge, respectively. Analysis of the concentration of CECs along the treatment process revealed most CECs were removed in the biological treatment units. The incorporation of newly constructed tertiary treatment proved beneficial for CEC removal and removed 2.93 % and 2.36 % CECs, corresponding to CEC removal of 2.92 and 27.49 g/d in the CD and JM WWTPs, respectively. The data of this study were further used to evaluate the suitability of the SimpleTreat model for simulating the fate of CECs in WWTPs. The predicted fraction of CECs discharged through the biological treatment effluent were generally within ten-fold difference from the measured results, highlighting its potential for estimating CEC removal in WWTPs.

Removal of neonicotinoid insecticides in a large-scale constructed wetland system.

Neonicotinoid insecticides are among the most used insecticides and their residues are frequently found in surface water due to their persistence and mobility. Neonicotinoid insecticides exhibit toxicity to a wide range of aquatic invertebrates at environmentally relevant levels, and therefore their contamination in surface water is of significant concern. In this study, we investigated the spatiotemporal distribution of six neonicotinoids in a large wetland system, the Prado Wetlands, in Southern California, and further evaluated the wetlands' efficiency at removing these insecticides. Total neonicotinoid concentrations in water ranged from 3.17 to 46.9 ng L-1 at different locations within the wetlands, with imidacloprid and dinotefuran among the most detected. Removal was calculated based on concentrations as well as mass flux. The concentration-based removal values for a shallow pond (vegetation-free), moderately vegetated cells, densely vegetated cells, and the entire wetland train were 16.9%, 34.2%, 90.2%, and 61.3%, respectively. Principal component analysis revealed that pH and temperature were the primary factors affecting neonicotinoids removal. Results from this study demonstrated the ubiquitous presence of neonicotinoids in surface water impacted by urban runoff and wastewater effluent and highlighted the efficiency of wetlands in removing these trace contaminants due to concerted effects of uptake by wetland plants, photolysis, and microbial degradation.

Distribution of pyrethroid insecticides in urban storm drain structures: Catch basins, open channels, and outfalls.

Surface water runoff can transport contaminants offsite to downstream aquatic ecosystems. The prevalence of impervious surfaces in urban areas enhances surface runoff and contributes to contamination of urban surface streams. Urban areas have complex drainage systems for the conveyance of drainage water, however, there is a dearth of information on the distribution of contaminants within storm drain system structures. Pyrethroid insecticides are among the most used insecticides in urban areas, and trace levels of pyrethroids are known to exert toxicity to aquatic invertebrates. To investigate pyrethroid occurrence and distribution throughout an urban drainage system, samples of water, sediment, algae, and biofilm were collected from catch basins, open channels, and outfalls in Los Angeles County, California, during the dry season. From 3 catch basins, 7 open channels, and 7 outfalls, a total of 28 water samples, 4 sediment samples, 8 algae samples, and 4 biofilm samples were collected and analyzed. Pyrethroid concentrations above the reporting limit were detected in 89% of water samples and all sediment, algae, and biofilm samples, with bifenthrin and cyfluthrin being the most frequently detected compounds. The median total pyrethroid concentrations in water, sediments, algae, and biofilms were 27 ng/L, 88 ng/g, 356 ng/g, and 3556 ng/g, respectively. Bifenthrin concentrations in catch basins were found to be significantly higher than those in open channels or outfalls. Significant correlations were found for various metrics, including between pyrethroid partitioning in water samples and total suspended solids. These findings highlight the role of underground catch basins as a sink as well as a secondary source for contaminants such as pyrethroid insecticides. Prevention of the input of these urban originated contaminants to catch basins is crucial for protecting the water quality of urban surface waters.

Domestic wastewater causes nitrate pollution in an agricultural watershed, China.

Excessive quantities of nitrates in the aquatic environment can cause eutrophication and raise water safety concerns. Therefore, identification of the sources of nitrate is crucial to mitigate nitrate pollution and for better management of the water resources. Here, the spatiotemporal variations and sources of nitrate were investigated by stable isotopes (δ15N and δ18O), hydrogeochemical variables (e.g., NO3- and Cl-), and exogenous microbial signals (i.e., sediments, soils, domestic and swine sewage) in an agricultural watershed (Changle River watershed) in China. The concentration ranges of δ15N- and δ18O-NO3- between 3.03‰-18.97‰ and -1.55‰-16.47‰, respectively, suggested that soil nitrogen, chemical fertilizers, and manure and sewage (M&S) were the primary nitrate sources. Bayesian isotopic mixing model suggested that the major proportion of nitrate within the watershed (53.12 ± 10.40% and 63.81 ± 15.08%) and tributaries (64.43 ± 5.03% and 76.20 ± 4.34%) were contributed by M&S in dry and wet seasons, respectively. Community-based microbial source tracking (MST) showed that untreated and treated domestic wastewater was the major source (>70%) of river microbiota. Redundancy analysis with the incorporation of land use, hydrogeochemical variables, dual stable isotope, and exogenous microbial signals revealed domestic wastewater as the dominant cause of nitrate pollution. Altogether, this study not only identifies and quantifies the spatiotemporal variations in nitrate sources in the study area but also provides a new analytical framework by combining nitrate isotopic signatures and community-based MST approaches for source appointment of nitrate in other polluted watersheds.

Tracking microeukaryotic footprint in a peri-urban watershed, China through machine-learning approaches.

Microeukaryotes play a significant role in biogeochemical cycling and can serve as bioindicators of water quality in freshwater ecosystems. However, there is a knowledge gap on how freshwater microeukaryotic communities are assembled, especially that how terrestrial microeukaryotes influence freshwater microeukaryotic assemblages. Here, we used a combination of 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and community-based microbial source tracking (MST) approaches (i.e., SourceTracker and FEAST) to assess the contribution of microeukaryotes from surrounding environments (i.e., soils, river sediments, swine wastewater, influents and effluents of decentralized wastewater treatment plants) to planktonic microeukaryotes in the main channel, tributaries and reservoir of a peri-urban watershed, China in wet and dry seasons. The results indicated that SAR (~ 49% of the total communities), Opithokonta (~ 34%), Archaeplastida (~ 9%), and Amoebozoa (~ 2%) were dominant taxa in the watershed. The community-based MST analysis revealed that sewage effluents (7.96 - 21.84%), influents (2.23 - 13.97%), and river sediments (2.56 - 11.71%) were the major exogenous sources of riverine microeukaryotes. At the spatial scale, the downstream of the watershed (i.e., main channel and tributaries) received higher proportions of exogenous microeukaryotic OTUs compared to the upstream reservoirs, while at the seasonal scale, the sewage effluents and influents contributed higher exogenous microeukaryotes to river water in wet season than in dry season. Moreover, the swine and domestic wastewater led to the presence of Apicomplexa in wet season only, implying rainfall runoff may enhance the spread of parasitic microeukaryotes. Taken together, our study provides novel insights into the immigration patterns of microeukaryotes and their dominant supergroups between terrestrial and riverine habitats.

Environmental Filtering Drives the Assembly of Habitat Generalists and Specialists in the Coastal Sand Microbial Communities of Southern China.

Coastal sands harbor diverse microbial assemblages that play a critical role in the biogeochemical cycling of beach ecosystems. However, little is known about the relative importance of the different ecological processes underlying the assembly of communities of sand microbiota. Here, we employed 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing to investigate the sand microbiota of two coastal beaches, in southern China. The results showed that sand microbial assemblages at intertidal and supratidal zones exhibited contrasting compositions that can be attributed to environmental filtering by electric conductivity. A consistent pattern of habitat generalists and specialists of sand microbiota was observed among different beach zones. Null and neutral model analyses indicated that the environmental filtering was mainly responsible for supratidal microbial communities, while the neutral processes could partially influence the assembly of intertidal communities. Moreover, environmental filtering was found to shape the habitat specialists, while random dispersal played a major role in shaping generalists. The neutral model analysis revealed that the habitat generalists exceeding the neutral prediction harbored a relatively higher proportion of microbial taxa than the specialist counterparts. An opposite pattern was observed for taxa falling below the neutral prediction. Collectively, these findings offer a novel insight into the assembly mechanisms of coastal sand microbiota.