Mitigating Antimicrobial Resistance In Irrigated Agriculture Using Multi-Layered Biochar-Based Polishing Technologies For Treated Wastewater

Determine the efficacy of a broad spectrum of biochar materials for their ability to remove antibiotics, ARGs, and ARB from TMW and use the most effective materials.Design a bench-scale polishing system to treat synthetic and real TMWs using the biochars selected under Objective 1, comparing the levels of antibiotics, ARGs, and ARB in the influent and effluent to determine the removal efficacy of the system.Upscale and refine the polishing system, using influent and effluent solutions from the bench-scale polishing system to irrigate different crops under greenhouse conditions, comparing temporal changes in the microbial communities (including ARGs and ARB) of soils and plants irrigated with non-polished and polished TMW.Design, fabricate, and operate a scaled-up, on-farm biochar-based system that is coupled with an on-farm irrigation system to provide polished TMW for crop production under field conditions, comparing spatio-temporal changes in the microbial communities (including ARGs and ARB) of soils and plants irrigated with non-polished and polished TMWs; conduct field evaluations at two farms over two growing seasons.Quantify the risk mitigation potential offered by the biochar-based polishing system in terms of antimicrobial dissemination in the agriculture continuum.