Parabens, the antimicrobial preservatives used in cosmetics, food and pharmaceuticals, are often detected in the aquatic environment. Generally, sewage treatment plants (STPs) receive community sewage containing parabens, which are ultimately released into streams/rivers. In this study, bacteria in STP effluents were evaluated for their resistance to parabens. The susceptibility was in the order of Staphylococcus aureus > Bacillus sp. >Escherichia coli > Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Gram-negative bacteria showed less susceptibility than their control and Gram-positive bacteria. Further, the bacteria were more sensitive towards butyl and ethyl parabens. Interestingly, the strains showed resistance to ≥5 mg of parabens, which is equivalent to or higher than reported environmental concentrations. The increase in paraben chain length did not enhance the susceptibility in all cases and it was understood that the activity may differ for each bacterium in the environment. This is the first profile on paraben resistance in common pathogens of Indian STPs. Paraben resistance may be developed due to continuous exposure even at sub-inhibitory and/or chronic levels in the environment and this resistance may be transferred to other pathogenic bacteria in receiving waters. Thus the study demonstrates the effectiveness of the disc diffusion method in environmental bacterial resistance assessment and addresses the risk involved in the use of parabens.
Sustainable Development Goal number 6 declares safe drinking water for all as a human right and it can be used as an indicator to measure development. While urban and municipal residents benefit from safe drinking water through centralized water supply systems, water supply for rural areas and estates were decentralized due to large construction costs, according to the demand-driven approach introducing community governance mechanism for water sources and water supply in rural areas. Community-based water societies emerged as a consequence of this situation. In Badulla district of Sri Lanka, 47% of community-based water societies depend upon natural water springs benefitting 46% of households in a particular area. Recently, two natural water springs dried up affecting 191 households and 10 community-based water societies who depend on natural water springs are regulating their water supply hours due to a long and extended drought situation.This affected 1,953 households in Badulla. Further it represents 8.4% of households who depend upon natural water springs. Owing to the present water scarcity, 37 community-based water societies started catchment protection initiatives with the support of government and non-governmental agencies. One community-based water society in this district has collapsed due to lack of water with the drying up of their natural water spring and another is functioning with an alternative water source. Other community-based water societies are functioning to a varying extent because of water level reduction in natural water springs. While the climate is changing, there are development initiatives that, in particular, are affecting natural water springs.
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