"Leaky Sewers May Foster Antibiotic Resistance In Urban Streams"

"Microbial activity in a Baltimore stream is unaffected by exposure to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, evidence that sewage contamination of urban waterways may be fomenting pockets of antibiotic resistance, researchers reported last week in the journal Ecosphere.

On one level, the findings are good news for urban streams. They suggest that microbial communities that are key to carbon and nitrogen cycling and form the base of the aquatic food web are able to keep functioning despite pollution from pharmaceuticals and personal care products. But the drugs may have subtler effects on stream ecology, and the implications for human and wildlife health are unknown.

“Wastewater treatment facilities are not equipped to remove many pharmaceutical compounds,” lead author Emma Rosi, an aquatic ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, a nonprofit research organization in Millbrook, NY, said in a press release. “We were interested in how stream microorganisms – which perform key ecosystem services like removing nutrients and breaking down leaf litter – respond to pharmaceutical pollution.”"

Sarah DeWeerdt reports for Anthropocene January 16, 2018.