The Antibiotic Contamination and Ecological Risks Assessment of Typical Lakes in the Middle and Lower Reaches of Yangtze River in China

Antibiotics have been detected in natural environment in many regions of the world, and their potential disadvantageous influences on organisms in the environment have attracted widespread attention. The sewage treatment plants don’t completely take out antibiotics before tailwater release into the environment. The antibiotic contamination could promote the development of antibiotic resistance genes and drug resistant bacteria and bring irreversible damage to the natural ecosystem and human health. Because of the widespread use and discharge of antibiotics, lakes have become important repositories of antibiotics. With the rapid industrialization and urbanization of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Yangtze River basin has already become one of the regions with the maximum antibiotic emissions in China. This review briefly addresses the current situation of antibiotic contamination in the Yangtze River basin and typical lakes in the middle and lower reaches and evaluates the main types of pollution and ecological risks of antibiotics in typical lakes during the dry season.