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A new framework for grey water footprints accounting for pharmaceuticals in a hydropower reservoir

  • 1 March, 2022
  • Wageningen University, Water Systems and Global Change
  • Prof. dr C Kroeze
  • dr ir N Hofstradr ir PR van Oel

Typically, the reservoir provides multifunctional services including aquaculture. Due to the anthropogenic activity present in the surrounding area and inside of the reservoir, various antibiotics were detected in the reservoir worldwide with ng/L and ng/g levels both in water and sediments. Due to the low concentrations found, the impact of antibiotics presence particularly in drinking water reservoir as well as in fish on the human health were negligible. However, their lowest concentration found may pose a threat to the other services provided by the reservoir. Several research have been found that residual antibiotics found in the reservoir may have a detrimental effect on algae and end up causing eutrophication. Furthermore, the prolonged antibiotics application in aquaculture may potentially develop antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which may causing the other problems related to reservoir service-related water usage. Unfortunately, a scientific concern has not been paid to the impacts of antibiotics on aquaculture productivity, tourism, and irrigation which are known as reservoir services-related water usage. The information about the state of antibiotics in the multi-source pollutant reservoir is essential as a first step for understanding the impact of antibiotics on the other services provided by the reservoir, particularly for the ungauged region where the type, pattern, and utilization of antibiotics are not well reported. To my knowledge, no report is available about the antibiotics in a multifunctional reservoirs in Indonesia. Therefore, Cirata as the multi-source pollutant reservoir has been chosen as a location for exploring the impacts of antibiotics generated from aquaculture in particular and other possible sources, to reservoir services-related water usage which covers aquaculture productivity, tourism, and irrigation.
The objective of this project is to explore the occurrence and source of antibiotics in the multifunctional reservoir and to determine the impact of antibiotics from aquaculture and other possible sources on the reservoir services-related water usage.
The direction for four research questions (RQ):
RQ1 : What is the type, level, and risk of antibiotics in the multifunctional reservoir?
RQ2 : How is the contribution of aquaculture for antibiotics relative to other sources?
RQ3 : What are the impacts of antibiotics on the reservoir services-related water usage including aquaculture productivity, tourism, and irrigation?
RQ4 : What kind of interventions should be proposed to reduce the impacts of antibiotics?

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Miranti Ariyani

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