Peri-urban regions around Bengaluru are rapidly expanding zones located between urban cities and rural landscapes. These regions experience rapid land-use change, high population pressure, mixed infrastructure and increasing water scarcity. Because they lie at the rural-urban interface, they often depend on alternative water sources to sustain agriculture. Urban wastewater systems directly intersect with agriculture as a nutrient-rich irrigation source and treated wastewater has emerged as a climate-resilient source of irrigation.  However, both treated and untreated wastewater may introduce or sustain antimicrobial resistant bacteria in soils and borewell water sources in these regions. In contrast, deep borewell irrigation provides a natural baseline but may also influence resistance through geogenic elements and intensive farming practices and due to anthropogenic activities. This project systematically compares untreated wastewater, treated wastewater and groundwater irrigation systems to assess the extent of AMR in soil, water and borewell water, evaluate the fate of resistant bacteria across different types of STPs (Sewage Treatment Plants) continuum. This project also addresses the critical gap of AMR contamination in borewell water from treated and untreated wastewater regions, which is largely out of public concern.

Goal: 

To understand how different irrigation practices are leading to prevalence of AMR in peri-urban environments. 

Core activities include:

• Detect the extent of AMR in soil, water across three irrigation systems and STPs continuum (influent to effluent).
• Compare phenotypic resistance profiles of priority bacterial pathogens in agricultural soils under treated wastewater, untreated wastewater and groundwater irrigated fields. 
• Conduct culture-based AMR analysis using established protocols.
• Sample agricultural fields using 5-point mixed sampling method.
• Specifically target borewell water sources in treated and untreated wastewater regions to assess AMR contamination.

The findings will directly inform policy interventions for AMR mitigation, wastewater management and borewell water protection in Bengaluru’s peri-urban agricultural zones, ultimately safeguarding both farmers and consumers from exposure to antibiotic-resistant pathogens while supporting sustainable agricultural practices.