Premise Plumbing Pipe Materials and In-Building Disinfectants Shape the Potential for Proliferation of Pathogens and Antibiotic Resistance Genes

In-building disinfectants are commonly applied to control the growth of pathogens in plumbing, particularly in facilities such as hospitals that house vulnerable populations. However, their application has not been well optimized, especially with respect to interactive effects with pipe materials and potential unintended effects, such as enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) across the microbial community. Here, we used triplicate convectively mixed pipe reactors consisting of three pipe materials (PVC, copper, and iron) for replicated simulation of the distal reaches of premise plumbing and evaluated the effects of incrementally increased doses of chlorine, chloramine, chlorine dioxide, and copper-silver disinfectants. We used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to characterize the resulting succession of the corresponding microbiomes over the course of 37 weeks. We found that both disinfectants and pipe material affected ARG and microbial community taxonomic composition both independently and interactively. Water quality and total bacterial numbers were not found to be predictive of pathogenic species markers. One result of particular concern was the tendency of disinfectants, especially monochloramine, to enrich ARGs. Metagenome assembly indicated that many ARGs were enriched specifically among the pathogenic species. Functional gene analysis was indicative of a response of the microbes to oxidative stress, which is known to co/cross-select for antibiotic resistance. These findings emphasize the need for a holistic evaluation of pathogen control strategies for plumbing.