Effect of the effluent originating from small-scale conventional wastewater treatment plant treating municipal wastewater on the composition and abundance of the microbial community, antibiotic resistome and pathogens in the sediment and water of receiving stream.. Effect of the effluent originating from small-scale conventional wastewater treatment plant

The effect of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent on the composition and abundance of the microbial community as well as antibiotic resistome and pathogens in the sediment and water of the receiving stream were studied using metagenome sequencing and quantitative (qPCR) approach. Heightened Bacteroidetes proportions, up to three orders of magnitude increase in sulfonamide resistance gene abundances, and heightened proportions of regulatory and inactivation mechanisms in antibiotic resistome were recorded in stream water and sediment straight after the WWTP discharge point. Despite the decrease in ARG abundances further downstream, the proportions of ARGs as well as pathogens in stream sediment microbial community were highest further downstream (2,7 and 3,2 km) indicating pronounced effect of long-term purified wastewater discharge influence on the receiving ecosystem.