scholarly journals Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA Throughout Wastewater Treatment Plants and A Modeling Approach to Understand COVID-19 Infection Dynamics in Winnipeg, Canada

Author(s):  
Kadir Yanac ◽  
Adeola Adegoke ◽  
Liqun Wang ◽  
Qiuyan Yuan ◽  
Miguel Uyaguari

Although numerous studies have detected SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and attempted to find correlations between the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 and the number of cases, no consensus has been reached on sample collection and processing, and data analysis. Moreover, the fate of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater treatment plants is another issue, specifically regarding the discharge of the virus into environmental settings and the water cycle. The current study monitored SARS-CoV-2 in influent and effluent wastewater samples with three different concentration methods and sludge samples over six months (July to December 2020) to compare different virus concentration methods, assess the fate of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater treatment plants, and describe the potential relationship between SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in influent and infection dynamics. Skimmed milk flocculation (SMF) resulted in higher recoveries of an internal positive control, Armored RNA, and higher positivity rate of SARS-CoV-2 in samples compared to ultrafiltration methods employing a prefiltration step to eliminate solids. Our results suggested that SARS-CoV-2 may predominate in solids and therefore, concentration methods focusing on both supernatant and solid fractions may result in better recovery. SARS-CoV-2 was detected in influent and primary sludge samples but not in secondary and final effluent samples, indicating a significant reduction during primary and secondary treatments. SARS-CoV-2 was first detected in influent on September 30th, 2020. A decay-rate formula was applied to estimate initial concentrations of late-processed samples with SMF. A model based on shedding rate and new cases was applied to estimate SARS-CoV-2 concentrations and the number of active shedders. Inferred sensitivity of observed and modeled concentrations to the fluctuations in new cases and test-positivity rates indicated a potential contribution of newly infected individuals to SARS-CoV-2 loads in wastewater.

Author(s):  
Bilge Alpaslan Kocamemi ◽  
Halil Kurt ◽  
Sabri Hacıoglu ◽  
Cevdet Yaralı ◽  
Ahmet Mete Saatci ◽  
...  

AbstractSevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and became a global pandemic [1]. By 26 April 2020, more than 2.9 million people were infected by SARS-CoV-2 and over 203 thousand people lost their life globally. By 26 April 2020, 107773 confirmed cases were reported in Turkey with 2706 deaths. Majority of the cases in Turkey has been observed in Istanbul. In the world, the duration of availability of SARS-CoV-2 was found to be significantly longer in stool samples than in respiratory and serum samples [2]. SARS-CoV-2 was detected in wastewaters in Australia [3], Netherlands [4], USA [5], France [6], Spain [7] and USA [8] by using different virus concentration techniques. In this work, Istanbul metropole with 65 % of Covid-19 cases was chosen as the pilot city. On the 21st of April 2020, 24-hr composite samples were collected from the Ambarli, Pasakoy and Kadikoy wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). On the 25th of April 2020, more wastewater samples were taken from Terkos, Buyukcekmece, Baltalimani and Tuzla WWTPs. These wastewater treatment plants were selected among 81 plants in Istanbul in order to take representative samples from 4 different districts of Istanbul according to the severity of Covid-19 cases, like very serious, serious, moderate and mild. Grab samples were also collected from Bagcilar and Kartal manholes located nearby the pandemic hospitals on April 21st, 2020. Polyethylene glycol 8000 (PEG 8000) adsorption [5] SARS-Cov-2 concentration method was used for SARS-CoV-2 concentration after optimization. Real time RT-PCR diagnostic panel validated by US was used to quantify SARS-CoV-2 RNA in raw sewage taken from the inlets of treatment plants and manholes. Five samples out of seven from wastewater and all samples from manholes were tested positive. SARS-CoV-2 in raw sewage from Ambarli, Pasakoy, Kadikoy, Terkos, Buyukcekmece, Baltalimani and Tuzla WWTPs were found as 8.26×103, 1.80×104, ND, ND, 3.73×103, 4.95×103, 2.89×103, respectively. The Bagcilar and Kartal manholes nearby pandemic hospitals exhibited 4.49×104 and 9.33×104, respectively. SARS-CoV-2 virus titers of manhole were higher than those of inlet of WWTPs. The observed copy numbers were presented against the number of Covid-19 cases coming to the WWTP per treatment plant capacity. Quantitative measurements of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater can be used as a tool in wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) and it can provide information about SARS-CoV-2 distribution in wastewater of various districts of Istanbul which exhibit different scores of Covid-19 cases. The distribution of epidemy was followed not only with blood test but with wastewater monitoring. This may allow us to identify the districts not exhibiting many Covid-19 cases, but under high risk. Continuous monitoring of wastewater for SARS-Cov-2 may provide an early warning signs before an epidemy starts in case of infection resurge.


Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 798
Author(s):  
Samendra P. Sherchan ◽  
Shalina Shahin ◽  
Jeenal Patel ◽  
Lauren M. Ward ◽  
Sarmila Tandukar ◽  
...  

In this study, we investigated the occurrence of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA in primary influent (n = 42), secondary effluent (n = 24) and tertiary treated effluent (n = 34) collected from six wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs A–F) in Virginia (WWTP A), Florida (WWTPs B, C, and D), and Georgia (WWTPs E and F) in the United States during April–July 2020. Of the 100 wastewater samples analyzed, eight (19%) untreated wastewater samples collected from the primary influents contained SARS-CoV-2 RNA as measured by reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assays. SARS-CoV-2 RNA were detected in influent wastewater samples collected from WWTP A (Virginia), WWTPs E and F (Georgia) and WWTP D (Florida). Secondary and tertiary effluent samples were not positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA indicating the treatment processes in these WWTPs potentially removed SARS-CoV-2 RNA during the secondary and tertiary treatment processes. However, further studies are needed to understand the log removal values (LRVs) and transmission risks of SARS-CoV-2 RNA through analyzing wastewater samples from a wider range of WWTPs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Sabbahi ◽  
M. Trad ◽  
L. Ben Ayed ◽  
N. Marzougui

Abstract The present study aimed to: (i) identify helminth eggs and protozoan cysts in wastewater samples to which both human and animals could be exposed when they are reused in agriculture; and (ii) evaluate the efficiency of their removal by two wastewater treatment systems (activated sludge and lagoon). For these purposes, 234 wastewater samples (117 raw, 117 treated) were collected from 20 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Tunisia over a one-year sampling period. Parasitic load was enumerated by the modified Bailenger method. The results showed that helminth eggs found were Nematodes mainly represented by Ascaris sp. (95%), Hookworm species (50%), and Enterobius vermicularis (45%). For Cestodes, species identified were Taeniid eggs (85%), Hymenolepis nana (70%), Hymenolepis diminuta (55%) and digestive Strongyles. Among protozoa, Giardia sp., Entamoeba histolytica/dispar/moshkovskii and Entamoeba coli cysts were found in 100% of raw wastewater samples. The overall removal efficiency of helminth eggs and protozoan cysts in the treatment plants ranged from 56.5 to 100% and from 50.4 to 95.5%, respectively. The result from Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) shows that the close clustering of the parasitic mean removal levels indicates that there is little difference in wastewater treatment processes between the WWTPs examined.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Bonetta ◽  
C Pignata ◽  
S a Bonetta ◽  
E Gasparro ◽  
E Lorenzi ◽  
...  

Abstract The global action plan on antimicrobial resistance reports the necessity to develop standards and guidance for the presence of antimicrobial agents in the environment, especially in wastewater, highlighting its possible role in the antibiotic resistance spreading. In addition, the New European One Health Action Plan against Antimicrobial Resistance underlines the need to support research into knowledge gaps on the release of resistant microorganisms into the environment and their dissemination. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of Antibiotic Resistance Bacteria (ARB) and Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARG) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). At this scope, untreated sewage and treated effluents of three different WWTPs (A, B and C) were sampled for one year. Sample dilutions were plated on R2Agar added/not-added with 4 different antibiotics (ampicillin 32mg/L; tetracycline 16 mg/L; chloramphenicol 32 mg/L; sulfamethoxazole 50,4 mg/L) to evaluate the percentage of antibiotic resistant bacteria and their WWTPs removal rate (%). DNA extraction on the filter used to concentrate the wastewater samples was performed to reveal the ARG presence; subsequently specific PCRs for ARG (blaTEM, tetA, sul II, sul III) were carried out. ARB were detected in all samples analysed. The highest antibiotic resistance percentage was revealed in the sewage (mean 21,7%±4,8) and effluent (mean 21,1%±3,0) of the three wastewater treatment plants for sulfamethoxazole. Moreover, sul II was the most present gene in the samples (81% of all samples, 89 % of sewages and 72% of effluents). The lower WWTPs removal was recovered in the plant B for the tetracycline (95, 7%). The results obtained underlines the need to monitor WWTP as critical hot spot for the antibiotic resistance spreading also considering the One Health approach. Furthermore, the results obtained could suggest interventions to reduce the spread of the antibiotic resistance in the integrated urban water cycle. Key messages The information obtained could provide usefulness information about the role of wastewater treatment plant in the antibiotic resistance spreading. The results could contribute to suggest the interventions targeted to reduce the antibiotic resistance phenomenon in the integrated urban water cycle.


2015 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 607-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Kirschhöfer ◽  
Olga Sahin ◽  
Gero C. Becker ◽  
Florian Meffert ◽  
Michael Nusser ◽  
...  

Organic micropollutants (MPs), in particular xenobiotics and their transformation products, have been detected in the aquatic environment and the main sources of these MPs are wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, an additional cleaning step is necessary. The use of activated carbon (AC) is one approach to providing this additional cleaning. Industrial AC derived from different carbonaceous materials is predominantly produced in low-income countries by polluting processes. In contrast, AC derived from sewage sludge by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a regional and sustainable alternative, based on waste material. Our experiments demonstrate that the HTC-AC from sewage sludge was able to remove most of the applied MPs. In fact more than 50% of sulfamethoxazole, diclofenac and bezafibrate were removed from artificial water samples. With the same approach carbamazepine was eliminated to nearly 70% and atrazine more than 80%. In addition a pre-treated (phosphorus-reduced) HTC-AC was able to eliminate 80% of carbamazepine and diclofenac. Atrazine, sulfamethoxazole and bezafibrate were removed to more than 90%. Experiments using real wastewater samples with high organic content (11.1 g m−3) succeeded in proving the adsorption capability of phosphorus-reduced HTC-AC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khirbet López-Velázquez ◽  
Jorge L. Guzmán-Mar ◽  
Hugo A. Saldarriaga-Noreña ◽  
Mario A. Murillo-Tovar ◽  
Minerva Villanueva-Rodríguez

Abstract The potential ecological risk of five residual endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) in four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) was studied. The wastewater samples were collected in WWTPs of the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico (designed as Monterrey City hereinafter) and 17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), bisphenol A (BPA), 4-nonylphenol (4NP), and 4-tert-octylphenol (4TOP) were studied by SPE/GC-MS method. Results showed that all EDCs are widely distributed in WWTPs, finding high concentrations of BPA (450 ng/L) and EE2 (407.5 ng/L) in influents, while EE2 and 4TOP were the most abundant in effluents at levels from 1.6–26.8 ng/L (EE2) and < LOQ – 5.0 ng/L (4TOP), which corroborate that the wastewater discharges represent critical sources of EDCs to the aquatic environments. The potential ecological risk of residual EDCs was evaluated through risk quotients (RQs), and results indicated that the effluents of the WWTPs represent a high risk to exposed aquatic species, mainly due to the effect of residual estrogens E2 and EE2 which were considered as the most hazardous compounds among the studied EDCs, with RQ values up to 49.1 and 1165.2, respectively.


Author(s):  
Bilge Alpaslan Kocamemi ◽  
Halil Kurt ◽  
Ahmet Sait ◽  
Hamza Kadi ◽  
Fahriye Sarac ◽  
...  

1.AbstractSince the announcement of the pandemic of Covid-19 by WHO on March 11, 2020, the countries have started to monitor surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 through medical tests. However, people with no and very light symptoms are usually not medically tested or never hospitalized and they are missed. In the study of Wu et al. [1], it was realized that the urine and faeces of all infected people contain SARS-CoV-2. After that, sewage, and sludge-based SARS-CoV-2 surveillance studies have gained significant importance around the world (Fig.1). SARS-CoV-2 was detected in wastewaters in The Netherlands [2,3,4], USA [1,5,6,7, 8, 9, 10], Australia [11], France [12, 13, 14], China [15], Spain [16,17,18,19,20], Italy [21, 22,23], Israel [24], Turkey[25], Germany[26], Japan [27,28], India [29,30], Pakistan [31], Brazil [32,33], Chile [34], Denmark, France, Belgium[35], Equator [36] and Sweden [37] using different virus concentration techniques. Published data show that high concentrations of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA reaches to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). On 7th of May 2020, Turkey took its place among a few country which have been started wastewater based surveillance studies at the early stages of pandemic by reporting SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR levels of major WWTPs of Istanbul [25]. Turkey [38] first detected SARS-CoV-2 in both primary and waste activated sludges of Istanbul WWTPs. Later, USA [39] and Spain [40] were also studied on sludge samples. There are also studies evaluating the SARS-CoV-2 in WWTPs effluents [10,13,14, 28, 29,30, 34, 36].This study aimed to scan distribution of Covid-19 through Turkey by SARS-CoV-2 measurements in influent, effluent and sludge samples of WWTPs. The influent, effluent and sludge samples were collected from main WWTPs located in 81 cities of Turkey through May 2020-July 2020. Among those 81 cities, Istanbul metropole with 15.5 million inhabitants was chosen as the pilot city since 65% of all cases in Turkey were present here. Hence, all treatment plants in Istanbul were scanned through the study. The viral activity tests were also conducted for the influent, effluent and sludge samples resulting high qPCR.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanghui Deng ◽  
Changsheng Guo ◽  
Heng Zhang ◽  
Xingxing Yin ◽  
Like Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: As a class of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), illicit drugs should be taken into account in the water management because of their social and public health risks. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are usually considered as the source and sink of contaminants, and drug residues are observed in their effluents due to the inefficient removal of CECs. In this study, wastewater samples were collected from eight WWTPs in Changzhou City for assessment of the abuse of 12 illicit drugs in the city by wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) method. Results: Drug concentrations ranged from


Author(s):  
T. C. Prathna ◽  
Ankit Srivastava

Abstract This study was about the feasibility of using ferric chloride as an agent for odour control in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) due to hydrogen sulphide emission. Total inlet sulphide concentrations at 11 WWTPs in Delhi were measured and ranged between 1.1 and 14.8 mg/L. Wastewater samples from Najafgarh drain were used in jar tests to estimate the ferric chloride concentration required to obtain acceptable treatment. Ferric chloride was effective in removing sulphide, phosphate and total suspended solids (TSS), and gave significant biological oxygen demand (BOD) reduction. It was ineffective, however, in removing ammoniacal-nitrogen. A dose of 40 mg/L removed 76% of total sulphide, which corresponds to a significant reduction in hydrogen sulphide emission. The study demonstrated that ferric chloride can be used as a cost-effective pre-treatment step in WWTPs to reduce sulphur-related odours significantly, as well as TSS, BOD and phosphate from wastewater.


Author(s):  
Bilge Alpaslan Kocamemi ◽  
Halil Kurt ◽  
Ahmet Sait ◽  
Fahriye Sarac ◽  
Ahmet Mete Saatci ◽  
...  

Following the announcement of SARS-CoV-2 worldwide pandemic spread by WHO on March 11, 2020, wastewater based epidemiology received great attention in several countries: The Netherlands [Medama et al., 2020; K-Lodder et al., 2020], USA [Wu et al., 2020; Memudryi et al., 2020], Australia [Ahmed et al., 2020], France [Wurtzer et al., 2020], China [Wang et al., 2020], Spain [Randazzo et al., 2020; Walter et al., 2020], Italy (La Rosa et al., 2020; Rimoldi et al., 2020) and Israel [Or et al., 2020], performed analysis in wastewaters by using different virus concentration techniques. Turkey took its place among these countries on 7th of May, 2020 by reporting SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR levels at the inlet of seven (7) major municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of Istanbul [Alpaslan Kocamemi et al., 2020], which is a metropole with 15.5 million inhabitants and a very high population density (2987 persons/km2) and having about 65 % of Covid-19 cases in Turkey. Sludges that are produced in WWTPs should be expected to contain SARS-CoV-2 virus as well. There has not yet been any study for the fate of SAR-CoV-2 in sludges generated from WWTPs. Knowledge about the existing of SARS-CoV-2 in sludge may be useful for handling the sludge during its dewatering, stabilizing and disposal processes. This information will also be valuable in case of sludges that are used as soil conditioners in agriculture or sent to landfill disposal. In wastewater treatment plants, generally two different types of sludges are generated; primary sludge (PS) and waste activated sludge (WAS). PS forms during the settling of wastewater by gravity in the primary settling tanks. Little decomposition occurs during primary sludge formation. Since most of the inorganic part of the wastewater is removed in the earlier grit removal process, the PS consists of mainly organic material that settles. The PS is about 1-2 % solids by weight. In the biological treatment part of the WWTPs, the biomass that forms in the anaerobic, anoxic and oxic zones of the process is settled in final clarifiers by gravity and returned to the beginning of the biological process so that it is not washed off. The waste activated sludge (WAS) is the excess part of the biomass that grows in this secondary treatment process. It has to be removed from the process not to increase the mixed liquor suspended solids concentration (bacteria concentration) in the secondary process more than a fixed value. The WAS is about 0.6 - 0.9 % solids by weight. This work aims to find whether SARS-CoV-19 is present in the PS and WAS before it is dewatered and sent to anaerobic or aerobic digester processes or to thermal drying operations. For this purpose, on the 7th of May 2020, two (2) PS samples were collected from Ambarlı and Tuzla WWTPs, seven (7) WAS samples were collected from Terkos, Ambarlı, Atakoy I & II, Pasakoy II, Buyukcekmece and Tuzla I WWTPs. Polyethylene glycol 8000 (PEG 8000) adsorption [Wu et al., 2020] SARS-Cov-2 concentration method was used for SARS-CoV-2 concentration after optimization. [Alpaslan Kocamemi et al., 2020]. Real time RT-PCR diagnostic panel validated by US was used to quantify SARS-CoV-2 RNA in primary and waste activated sludge samples taken from WWTPs in Istanbul. All samples were tested positive. Titers of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected ranging copies between 1.17E4 to 4.02x104 per liter.


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