Soil Could Filter Antibiotics from Effluent, Says Study

Soil may be a natural filter that can act as a tertiary treatment for wastewater, preventing antibiotics from contaminating groundwater, according to researchers who conducted a study at Penn State’s Living Filter. Researchers analyzed the fate and transport of three antibiotics important to human health — sulfamethoxazole, ofloxacin and trimethoprim — in soil and groundwater at the Living Filter, a 50-year-old wastewater reuse system that spray-irrigates treated effluent from the University Park campus’ sewage treatment plant on 600 acres of farm and forest. In general, researchers found that each antibiotic behaved differently when exposed to the soil profile, but they