Investigation on the fate of quinolone antibiotics in three drinking water treatment plants of China

Quinolone (QN) antibiotics are widely used all over the world and have been frequently detected in source water, but the occurrence in tap water and the treatment efficiencies of QNs by drinking-water treatment plants (DWTPs) were rarely reported. In the present study, the occurrence and distribution of six representative QNs in three urban DWTPs of China were investigated. The results showed that the concentrations of total QNs in the three source waters ranged from 26.4 ng/L to 313.8 ng/L and all of the six QNs were detectable with a detection frequency of 100% (4.6 to 121.7 ng/L). Enrofloxacin (ENR) and ofloxacin (OFL) were the dominant species of QNs and accounted for 40.1% to 79.5% of the total QNs. After the treatments, there were still considerable QNs in the finished water (total amounts of 74.9 ng/L to 148.4 ng/L). The adsorbed QNs could be readily treated with the removal of turbidity by DWTPs, but only a part of the dissolved QNs (13.6% to 68.5%) can be removed. This implies that the dissolved QNs were more hazardous in the source water. Pre-oxidation and disinfection could remove 15.8 ± 8.3% and 16.9 ± 10.8% of dissolved QNs, respectively, depending on the chemical structure of QNs and the types of oxidant. Chemical oxidation was more efficient than coagulation-sedimentation and filtration for the treatment of dissolved QNs. Ozone-granular activated carbon filtration may fail to remove dissolved QNs in the actual DWTPs, because of the insufficient dosage of oxidant and the competition effect of natural organic matter.