Attempt to detect antibiotic pollution in El'Oued wastewater: The Kouinine WWTP Case.

Abstract

This thesis aims to study the presence and residues of antibiotics in treated wastewater at the Kouinine wastewater treatment plant (El Oued Province, Algeria). This study falls within the context of growing concern about water pollution by antibiotics, which poses both environmental and health threats. For this purpose, water samples were collected before and after treatment at the plant. To analyze the presence of antibiotics, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used, in addition to measuring other parameters such as water temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Biochemical Oxygen Demand over 5 days (BOD5), in order to assess their effect on the percentage of antibiotics. Our study focused on some commonly used antibiotics, such as Azithromycin, Trimethoprim, and Cefalexin. According to our results, traces ofsome antibiotics were detected in the treated water with fluctuating percentages ranging from 2.01% to 81.40% during the months of January and April, indicating that conventional treatment plants are not capable of completely removing these compounds. The levels of antibiotics detected vary depending on the type of compound, the season, and the treatment stage. The presence of these residues may pose an environmental risk, particularly to aquatic life, and may contribute to the emergence of antibiotic resistance in the environment.