Transport of Potential Manure Hormone and Pharmaceutical Contaminants through Intact Soil Columns

Abstract

Although adding manure to agricultural soils is a commonly practiced disposal method and a means to enhance soil productivity, potential environmental contamination by any associated chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) such as hormones and pharmaceuticals is not well understood. Our objective was to provide field‐relevant predictions of soil transport and attenuation of 19 potential manure CECs using undisturbed soil columns irrigated under unsaturated conditions. The CEC concentrations in leached water were monitored for 13 wk using high performance liquid chromatography–time of flight–mass spectrometry (HPLC‐TOF‐MS), after which time soil in the cores was removed and sampled for extractable CECs. Compounds quantified in column leachate included all four of the added sulfonamide antibiotics and the nonsteroidal, anti‐inflammatory drug flunixin. Only trace amounts of several of the seven hormones, five remaining antibiotics, and two antimicrobials leached from the columns from exogenous soil additions. Soil residues of all 19 compounds were detected, with highest extractable amounts for 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone > triclosan (antimicrobial) > flunixin > oxytetracycline. Those CECs with the highest recoveries as calculated by summing leached and extractable amounts were flunixin (14.5%), 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone (5.3%), triclosan (4.6%), and sulfadimethoxine (4.8%). Manure management to prevent CEC contamination should consider the potential environmental problems caused by negatively charged compounds with the greatest mobility (flunixin and sulfadimethoxine) and those that have long residence times in soil (triclosan, 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone, flunixin, and oxytetracycline). Flunixin is particularly important given its mobility and long residence time in soil. Core Ideas Four sulfonamide antibiotics and the drug flunixin leached through soil columns. Trace amounts of nonsulfonamide antibiotics were detected in column leachate. Soil extracts contained 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone > triclosan > flunixin > oxytetracycline. The highest recoveries were observed for flunixin and 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone.

Highly efficient phosphorus recovery from sludge and manure biochars using potassium acetate pre-treatment

“…A new Fertilising Product Regulation of the European Union (EU) also focuses on facilitating trade with alternative fertiliser materials and hence, encourage P recycling from residues (The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, 2019). Such P-rich residues are, however, often contaminated with compounds of concern, including pharmaceuticals and microplastics (Clarke and Smith, 2011;Goss et al, 2013;Hill et al, 2019;Wohde et al, 2016) that can be present in plant-available form (Mercl et al, 2021;Wu et al, 2012). Application of untreated or insufficiently treated sewage sludge and manures on land to enable P-recycling can therefore pose an ecological and human health concern.…”

Sulfamethoxazole Leaching from Manure-Amended Sandy Loam Soil as Affected by the Application of Jujube Wood Waste-Derived Biochar

“…Once added to soil, antibiotics pass through a number of chemical, biological and structural degradation processes including adsorption, retention, transport, runoff, leaching and plant uptake which lead to pervasive environmental pollution. Hill et al [ 11 ] studied the leaching of sulfonamides (including SMZ) in a column experiment and found that a higher proportion of sulfonamides leached down with irrigation. Additionally, working on SMZ adsorption in organic soil, Chen et al [ 12 ] reported a higher leaching of SMZ due to its higher solubility, which could subsequently pollute ground and surface water resources.…”

Transport of Solutes and Colloids in Multi-Scale Porous Media Under Single and Multi-Phase Flow

“…Several industries now are also increasingly producing engineered colloidal and nano-particles (Wang et al, 2016). As a result, medicine residues, and personal care or other products are more and more found in drinking water production wells (Kolpin et al, 2002;Ma et al, 2018;Hill et al, 2019). Changes in the soil environment often also causes remobilization of in-situ colloids (Kretzschmar et al, 1999).…”

“…Agricultural activities, including the application of pesticides and fertilizers, and the use of landfills and other waste sites (Kjeldsen et al, 2002) cause soil and water pollution, while we simultaneously face increasing demands for freshwater in industry and agriculture (Vitousek et al, 1997;Vorosmarty, 2000). Contaminant transport also has become an active area of research due to increased use of pharmaceutical and personal care products and their associated threat to drinking water resources (Kolpin et al, 2002;Ma et al, 2018;Hill et al, 2019;Luque-Espinar and Chica-Olmo, 2019).…”

“…Soil and groundwater pollution by a broad range of industrial and agricultural contaminants is an ever-increasing global problem. The increased use of pesticides (Hantush et al, 2000(Hantush et al, , 2002, man-made nano-colloids (Baalousha et al, 2009;Gottschalk and Nowack, 2011;Neukum et al, 2014;Braun et al, 2015), micro-plastics (Engdahl, 2018;Xu et al, 2019;Li et al, 2020), landfills (Kjeldsen et al, 2002), and pharmaceuticals (Kolpin et al, 2002;Hill et al, 2019; Luque-Espinar and Chica-Olmo, 2019) is causing major soil and groundwater pollution problems. The applied chemicals are known to contribute especially to subsurface problems when subject to preferential flow through the vadose zone caused by local soil heterogeneities (Flury et al, 1994;Abbaspour et al, 2001;Hendrickx and Flury, 2001).…”