Effects of monochloramine and hydrogen peroxide on the bacterial community shifts in biologically treated wastewater.

Amending feed water with biocide is one of the strategy conventionally used to control biofouling in membrane-based water treatment systems. In this study, the impacts of two biocides, monochloramine (MCA) and hydrogen peroxide (HO), on the bacterial community in wastewater samples were investigated at equivalent biocidal efficiency levels. Viable bacterial numbers were determined before and after treatment for 10 min and 60 min using both culture-dependent heterotrophic plate count (HPC) and culture-independent propidium monoazide (PMA)-droplet digital PCR (ddPCR).