Print Email Facebook Twitter Microbiome, resistome and mobilome of chlorine-free drinking water treatment systems Title Microbiome, resistome and mobilome of chlorine-free drinking water treatment systems Author Calderon Franco, D. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Corbera Rubio, F. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Cuesta Sanz, M. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) Pieterse, Brent (Dunea) de Ridder, David (Evides) van Loosdrecht, Mark C.M. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology) van Halem, D. (TU Delft Sanitary Engineering) Laureni, M. (TU Delft Sanitary Engineering) Weissbrodt, D.G. (TU Delft BT/Environmental Biotechnology; Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU)) Date 2023 Abstract Drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) are designed to remove physical, chemical, and biological contaminants. However, until recently, the role of DWTPs in minimizing the cycling of antibiotic resistance determinants has got limited attention. In particular, the risk of selecting antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) is largely overlooked in chlorine-free DWTPs where biological processes are applied. Here, we combined high-throughput quantitative PCR and metagenomics to analyze the abundance and dynamics of microbial communities, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) across the treatment trains of two chlorine-free DWTPs involving dune-based and reservoir-based systems. The microbial diversity of the water increased after all biological unit operations, namely rapid and slow sand filtration (SSF), and granular activated carbon filtration. Both DWTPs reduced the concentration of ARGs and MGEs in the water by circa 2.5 log gene copies mL−1, despite their relative increase in the disinfection sub-units (SSF in dune-based and UV treatment in reservoir-based DWTPs). The total microbial concentration was also reduced (2.5 log units), and none of the DWTPs enriched for bacteria containing genes linked to antibiotic resistance. Our findings highlight the effectiveness of chlorine-free DWTPs in supplying safe drinking water while reducing the concentration of antibiotic resistance determinants. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that monitors the presence and dynamics of antibiotic resistance determinants in chlorine-free DWTPs. Subject Drinking water treatment plantsChlorine-freeSand filtrationMicrobiomeResistomeMobilome To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:9835fecc-4736-42fc-a08c-26a811089f69 DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119905 ISSN 0043-1354 Source Water Research, 235 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2023 D. Calderon Franco, F. Corbera Rubio, M. Cuesta Sanz, Brent Pieterse, David de Ridder, Mark C.M. van Loosdrecht, D. van Halem, M. Laureni, D.G. Weissbrodt Files PDF 1_s2.0_S004313542300341X_main.pdf 7.03 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:9835fecc-4736-42fc-a08c-26a811089f69/datastream/OBJ/view