Research Description
Contamination of the aquatic environment with antibiotics and resistance genes is becoming an increasing threat to global health. Overuse of antibiotics has become a serious ecological problem and there is growing concern that antibiotics are losing their effectiveness due to increased antibiotic resistance in bacteria. During the last twenty years, the consumption of antibiotics has increased rapidly, which has been cited as one of the world’s worst abusers of antibiotics. Several studies have been conducted to solve this issue. Developed countries have introduced several methods for antibiotic removal, constructed wetlands have been found low cost and easily maintainable technology. Although constructed wetlands (CWs) offer a potential way to remove these antibiotics from water the knowledge of their mechanisms is limited. In this review, we highlight important aspects of antibiotic pollution in the aquatic environment, the removal efficiency of constructed wetlands for antibiotics, and this review highlights antibiotic pollution which affects many things which taken together poses several challenges for environmental scientists. It has been discovered that four main factors are affecting the performance of constructed wetlands used for the treatment of antibiotics in water supplies, the type’s configurations of constructed wetlands, hydraulic load rates, substrates, plants, and microorganisms. Further research focusing on these factors are recommended to improve the removal efficiency of antibiotics in constructed wetlands. Outcomes of the study could help wastewater treatment plant engineers with providing reliable design data and outline a road map for future research.
Keywords: Antibiotic contamination, biological degradation, pollutants, water supplies, constructed wetland.
