ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Veterinary antibiotics are one of the most widely preferred drugs for promoting animal health. Since a considerable fraction of antibiotics is excreted in animal waste; antibiotics can affect both soil quality by leaching from manure to soil and water quality by transporting to surface waters via runoff following to application of animal waste as manure on agricultural lands. Due to the fact that released antibiotics can lead to toxic effects and development of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment, there has been an increased concern about the adverse impacts of these micro pollutants on the environment. The aim of this study is to create environmental risk maps of the Marmara Region regarding antibiotic transport by determining risky pasture lands, where risk mitigation actions would be essential. The antibiotic concentrations data are obtained from previously analyzed soil and manure samples collected from various agricultural lands of the Marmara Region (Balcıog˘lu et al. 2007). Environment Protection Agency’s Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is used to simulate rainfall-runoff relationships. The study area is divided into 499 subcatchments having different hydrological characteristics (Fig. 1).
