Seasonal variation and sediment–water exchange of antibiotics in a shallower large lake in North China

• Antibiotics in different environmental compartments were monitored seasonally.
• Antibiotics showed significant seasonal variations in water and sediment matrix.
• Sediments may act as a second source of antibiotics to aquatic environment.

The occurrence of four antibiotics, including oxytetracycline (OTC), tetracycline (TC), norfloxacin (NOR) and ofloxacin (OFL), in surface water, overlying water, pore water and sediment samples were studied in the Baiyangdian Lake from February to November in 2009. The total concentrations of these antibiotics ranged among 17.73–281.82, 22.98–258.45, 22.43–198.95 ng L− 1 and 131.65–750.27 ng g− 1 in surface water, overlying water, pore water and sediments, respectively. Seasonal variation might be impacted by the frequency of different pattern of antibiotics and the water temperatures of different seasons, where the higher concentrations appeared at different seasons. In addition, the regions with significant sewage discharge or human agricultural activities exhibited high concentrations of antibiotics in water and sediments. The highest accumulation rates of the four antibiotics ranged from 11.27 to 29.71%, which indicated that these compounds exhibited strong adsorption to the sediment. However, higher concentrations of antibiotics in pore water and even overlying water may result in the release of these compounds from the sediment acting as a secondary contaminant source in a certain time period, especially for TC. The pseudo-partitioning values of fluoroquinolones (FQs) ranged from 4493 to 47,093 L kg− 1 and were much higher than those of tetracyclines (TCs), which ranged from 277 to 1880 L kg− 1 indicating that the FQs are prone to accumulation in the sediment.

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