scholarly journals Characterization of microbial regrowth potential shaped by advanced drinking water treatment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikuro Kasuga ◽  
Hitomi Nakamura ◽  
Futoshi Kurisu ◽  
Hiroaki Furumai

Abstract Microbial regrowth in premise plumbing is a threat to water safety. Disinfectant residuals are often diminished during water transportation and stagnation, leading to the regrowth of opportunistic pathogens. Although microbial regrowth potential is mostly determined by water treatment, little is known about how each treatment step affects two key factors that contribute to microbial regrowth potential: biodegradable organic matter and microbial abundance. In this study, we operated annular reactors to evaluate the microbial regrowth potential of water shaped after each treatment step in a full-scale drinking water treatment plant with ozonation and biological activated carbon filtration. The assimilable organic carbon and total cell count (TCC) were stable at all treatment steps during the sampling period from July to October 2015. The assimilable organic carbon consumption and TCC net increase in the annular reactors indicated that apparent growth yields (cell number base) of microbial communities were different in each reactor. Regrowth potential evaluated by indigenous microbial community in finished water was reduced to 22% of that in raw water, while 75% of assimilable organic carbon in raw water remained in finished water. It suggested that treatment performance evaluated by indigenous microbial communities was better than that evaluated by assimilable organic carbon.

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 57-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.-G. Kang ◽  
Y.-H. Ku ◽  
Y.-K. Cho ◽  
M.-J. Yu

We investigated how various water treatment processes affect AOC (assimilable organic carbon) and MAP (microbially available phosphorus), which nutrient limits microbial growth between organic carbon and phosphorus, and what extent AOC is related to the MW fractions of NOM for raw waters of the Han River and process waters of two water treatment plants in Korea. In view of our results so far achieved, a significant difference was observed between MAP and MAP-P (potential MAP), while little difference was observed between AOC and AOC-P (potential AOC) for raw and pre-chlorinated waters, suggesting that organic carbon limits microbial growth instead of phosphorus. Conventional treatment processes poorly removed AOC-P (42.8%), since the AOC, which was mainly related to the small-molecular DOC, was hardly removed by conventional processes. Oxidants such as chlorine and ozone increased both of the AOC (AOC-P) and MAP (MAP-P), particularly ozone having the stronger oxidation power resulted in a larger increase. However, BAC and GAC removed AOC to less than 60 μg/L which meets the level for biological stability.


2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Horemans ◽  
Bart Raes ◽  
Hannelore Brocatus ◽  
Jeroen T'Syen ◽  
Caroline Rombouts ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Aminobacter sp. strain MSH1 grows on and mineralizes the groundwater micropollutant 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM) and is of interest for BAM removal in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs). The BAM-catabolic genes in MSH1 are located on plasmid pBAM1, carrying bbdA, which encodes the conversion of BAM to 2,6-dichlorobenzoic acid (2,6-DCBA) (BbdA+ phenotype), and plasmid pBAM2, carrying gene clusters encoding the conversion of 2,6-DCBA to tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates (Dcba+ phenotype). There are indications that MSH1 easily loses its BAM-catabolic phenotype. We obtained evidence that MSH1 rapidly develops a population that lacks the ability to mineralize BAM when grown on nonselective (R2B medium) and semiselective (R2B medium with BAM) media. Lack of mineralization was explained by loss of the Dcba+ phenotype and corresponding genes. The ecological significance of this instability for the use of MSH1 for BAM removal in the oligotrophic environment of DWTPs was explored in lab and pilot systems. A higher incidence of BbdA+ Dcba− MSH1 cells was also observed when MSH1 was grown as a biofilm in flow chambers under C and N starvation conditions due to growth on nonselective residual assimilable organic carbon. Similar observations were made in experiments with a pilot sand filter reactor bioaugmented with MSH1. BAM conversion to 2,6-DCBA was not affected by loss of the DCBA-catabolic genes. Our results show that MSH1 is prone to BAM-catabolic instability under the conditions occurring in a DWTP. While conversion of BAM to 2,6-DCBA remains unaffected, BAM mineralization activity is at risk, and monitoring of metabolites is warranted. IMPORTANCE Bioaugmentation of dedicated biofiltration units with bacterial strains that grow on and mineralize micropollutants was suggested as an alternative for treating micropollutant-contaminated water in drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs). Organic-pollutant-catabolic genes in bacteria are often easily lost, especially under nonselective conditions, which affects the bioaugmentation success. In this study, we provide evidence that Aminobacter sp. strain MSH1, which uses the common groundwater micropollutant 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM) as a C source, shows a high frequency of loss of its BAM-mineralizing phenotype due to the loss of genes that convert 2,6-DCBA to Krebs cycle intermediates when nonselective conditions occur. Moreover, we show that catabolic-gene loss also occurs in the oligotrophic environment of DWTPs, where growth of MSH1 depends mainly on the high fluxes of low concentrations of assimilable organic carbon, and hence show the ecological relevance of catabolic instability for using strain MSH1 for BAM removal in DWTPs.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim van Schagen ◽  
Luuk Rietveld ◽  
Alex Veersma ◽  
Robert Babuška

The performance of a drinking-water treatment plant is determined by the control of the plant. To design the appropriate control system, a control-design methodology of five design steps is proposed, which takes the treatment process characteristics into account. For each design step, the necessary actions are defined. Using the methodology for the pellet-softening treatment step, a new control scheme for the pellet-softening treatment step has been designed and implemented in the full-scale plant. The implementation resulted in a chemical usage reduction of 15% and reduction in the maintenance effort for this treatment step. Corrective actions of operators are no longer necessary.


2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Baghoth ◽  
M. Dignum ◽  
A. Grefte ◽  
J. Kroesbergen ◽  
G. L. Amy

For drinking water treatment plants that do not use disinfectant residual in the distribution system, it is important to limit availability of easily biodegradable natural organic matter (NOM) fractions which could enhance bacterial regrowth in the distribution system. This can be achieved by optimising the removal of those fractions of interest during treatment; however, this requires a better understanding of the physical and chemical properties of these NOM components. Fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) and liquid chromatography with online organic carbon detection (LC-OCD) were used to characterize NOM in water samples from one of the two water treatment plants serving Amsterdam, The Netherlands. No disinfectant residual is applied in the distribution system. Fluorescence EEM and LC-OCD were used to track NOM fractions. Whereas fluorescence EEM shows the reduction of humic-like as well as protein-like fluorescence signatures, LC-OCD was able to quantify the changes in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations of five NOM fractions: humic substances, building blocks (hydrolysates of humics), biopolymers, low molecular weight acids and neutrals.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Grefte ◽  
M. Dignum ◽  
E. R. Cornelissen ◽  
L. C. Rietveld

Abstract. To guarantee a good water quality at the customers tap, natural organic matter (NOM) should be (partly) removed during drinking water treatment. The objective of this research was to improve the biological stability of the produced water by incorporating anion exchange (IEX) for NOM removal. Different placement positions of IEX in the treatment lane (IEX positioned before coagulation, before ozonation or after slow sand filtration) and two IEX configurations (MIEX® and fluidized IEX (FIX)) were compared on water quality as well as costs. For this purpose the pre-treatment plant at Loenderveen and production plant Weesperkarspel of Waternet were used as a case study. Both, MIEX® and FIX were able to remove NOM (mainly the HS fraction) to a high extent. NOM removal can be done efficiently before ozonation and after slow sand filtration. The biological stability, in terms of assimilable organic carbon, biofilm formation rate and dissolved organic carbon, was improved by incorporating IEX for NOM removal. The operational costs were assumed to be directly dependent of the NOM removal rate and determined the difference between the IEX positions. The total costs for IEX for the three positions were approximately equal (0.0631 € m−3), however the savings on following treatment processes caused a cost reduction for the IEX positions before coagulation and before ozonation compared to IEX positioned after slow sand filtration. IEX positioned before ozonation was most cost effective and improved the biological stability of the treated water.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (01) ◽  
pp. 512-524
Author(s):  
Konan Lopez Kouame ◽  
◽  
Nogbou Emmanuel Assidjo ◽  
Andre Kone Ariban ◽  
◽  
...  

This article presents an optimization of the drinking water treatment process at the SUCRIVOIRE treatment station. The objective is to optimize the coagulation and flocculation process (fundamental process of the treatment of said plant)by determining the optimal dosages of the products injected and then proposes a program for calculating the optimal dose of coagulant in order to automatically determine the optimal dose of the latter according to the raw water quality. This contribution has the advantage of saving the user from any calculations the latter simply enters the characteristics of the raw effluent using the physical interface of the program in order to obtain the optimum corresponding coagulant concentration. For the determination of the optimal coagulant doses, we performed Jar-Test flocculation tests in the laboratory over a period of three months. The results made it possible to set up a polynomial regression model of the optimal dose of alumina sulfate as a function of the raw water parameters. A program for calculating the optimal dose of coagulant was carried out on Visual Basic. The optimal doses of coagulant obtained vary from 25, 35, 40 and 45 mg/l depending on the characteristics of the raw effluent. The model obtained is: . Finally, verification tests were carried out using this model on the process. The results obtained meet the WHO drinkability standards for all parameters for a settling time of two hours.


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