Microbiome and Resistome Profiles along a Sewage-Effluent-Reservoir Trajectory Underline the Role of Natural Attenuation in Wastewater Stabilization Reservoirs

Abstract

Wastewater treatment plants are sources of antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), which can contaminate receiving aquatic environments and contribute to antibiotic resistance. We focused on a controlled experimental system comprising a semicommercial membrane-aerated bioreactor (MABR) that treated raw sewage, whose effluents fed a 4,500-L polypropylene basin that mimicked effluent stabilization reservoirs.