| The main focus of the study was on three ionophoric antibiotics, monensin salinomycin and narasin. These three pharmaceuticals were evaluated both in vivo and in vitro setups to understand their fate and behavior in a constructed wetland (CW) environment. The laboratory studies determined the sorption, degradation and photodegradation potential in context of a wetland setup and, the field-scale CW experiments appraised the pharmaceutical removal potential under three flow configurations: free water surface (FWS), horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) and vertical flow (VF) systems. FWS and HSSF systems were evaluated with two texturally different soils while the vertical system employed sphagnum peat moss.;The first CW study determined the removal efficiency of two FWS wetland systems, one with sandy clay loam soil and the other with sandy soil, and a VF system with sphagnum peat moss for monensin, salinomycin and narasin. The results showed a significantly higher removal (P< 0.01) of all three antibiotics in FWS system using the sandy soil as compared to the CW on the sandy clay loam soil substrate. The ability to infiltrate to greater depths of the soil profile is likely to provide greater opportunity for soil-to-solute interactions, resulting in higher attenuation mainly through sorption in the sandy soil. However compared to the FWS systems, significantly enhanced removal (P < 0.0001) was observed in VF system using peat. Monensin and narasin were found to be the most and the least mobile in all three systems.;The second field study assessed the removal potential of the sandy soil in a field scale horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF) treatment wetland for the three antibiotics. Compared to the FWS treatment, the HSSF treatment significantly (P < 0.001) removed greater monensin (40% vs 32%), salinomycin (49% vs 34%) and narasin (49% vs 38%). Based on temperature, oxidation-reduction potential and dissolved oxygen measurements, significant contribution of microbial degradation could not be confirmed.;In another study, N-removing bacterial strains were isolated from an antibiotic exposed wetland. The strains were identified using nucleotide sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene; the isolates were assessed for their ability to withstand these pharmaceuticals. A Bacillus subtilis strain BRAZ2B was found to thrive in the drug-exposed wetland environment.;The laboratory sorption study was conducted on both soils at three pH levels, namely 4.5, 6.8, and 8.5. At pH 6.8, it was found that the sandy clay loam soil had higher Kd values for all three antibiotics as compared to the sandy soil. Narasin showed the highest Kd and Koc, whereas the lowest were observed for monensin. The sorption of all compounds had an inverse relationship with pH. In the biodegradation study on both soils, three concentrations of each compound, 100, 500, and 1000 μg kg -1, were used. First order degradation was observed for all three pharmaceuticals, with half-lives ranging from 6 to 8 days in both soils. The photodegradation study was carried out at three concentrations of each pharmaceutical on sterilized milli-Q water, sterilized milli-Q water with nitrate-N, and sterilized wetland water. Photodegradation was observed only for the wetland water; it also followed first-order decay with a half-life of 55, 40, and 37 days for monensin, salinomycin, and narasin, respectively. |
