Assessing the risk of spreading antibiotic resistance through the reuse of treated wastewater

Reclaimed water is a key source in overall global water management and sustainability;\ud however, small concentrations of antibiotics in treated wastewater effluent threaten\ud induction of antibiotic resistance in naturally-occurring soil bacteria and pathogens in\ud irrigated soils. This type of chronic exposure has the potential to lead to more severe food\ud outbreaks due to the development of antibiotic resistant pathogens, or ‘superbugs’. This\ud study investigated the capabilities of various antibiotics to induce resistance in the soil\ud bacterium Pseudomonas putida when chronically exposed to antibiotics at low\ud environmental concentrations