Occurrence and fate of antibiotics in advanced wastewater treatment facilities and receiving rivers in Beijing, China

The occurrence and removal of 13 antibiotics were investigated in five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) with advanced wastewater treatment processes in Beijing, China. Most of the target antibiotics were detected in the secondary and tertiary effluents, with the concentrations of 4.8–1106.0 and 0.3–505.0 ng·L−1. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics showed relatively high concentrations in all samples (782–1814 ng·L−1). Different tertiary treatment processes showed discrepant antibiotics removal performances. Ozonation process was found more effective in removing target antibiotics compared to the coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation process and sand filtration process. Investigation of the target antibiotics in three typical urban rivers in Beijing was carried out to understand antibiotics occurrence in surface water environment. Eight antibiotics were detected in the studied rivers, with highest concentration of antibiotics in the river which was mainly replenished by reclaimed water. This study showed the necessity of employing more effective advanced treatment facilities to further reduce the discharge amount of antibiotics.