Evaluation of Three Different Selective Media for Enumeration of in Untreated and Treated Wastewater.

Current and emerging legislation in North Carolina and other regions calls for the enumeration of as a surrogate indicator for protozoan parasites in various types of waters. Past studies that have evaluated selective media for the detection of this bacterium have provided limited, conflicting, and inconclusive results. In this study, membrane filtration was used to enumerate as culturable spores or total culturable cells in 19 samples of untreated and 25 samples of partially treated wastewaters on 3 candidate media, Tryptose Sulfite Cycloserine Agar (TSC), CP ChromoSelect Agar (CPCS), and membrane Agar (m-CP) in parallel, and the results were compared.

The Future of Municipal Wastewater Reuse Concentrate Management: Drivers, Challenges, and Opportunities.

Water reuse is rapidly becoming an integral feature of resilient water systems, where municipal wastewater undergoes advanced treatment, typically involving a sequence of ultrafiltration (UF), reverse osmosis (RO), and an advanced oxidation process (AOP). When RO is used, a concentrated waste stream is produced that is elevated in not only total dissolved solids but also metals, nutrients, and micropollutants that have passed through conventional wastewater treatment. Management of this RO concentrate─dubbed municipal wastewater reuse concentrate (MWRC)─will be critical to address, especially as water reuse practices become more widespread.

Evaluation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in home kitchens and bathrooms: Is there a link between home disinfectant use and antibiotic resistance?

Objective: To determine the relationship between home disinfectant use and the prevalence of antibiotic resistance among environmental isolates of human pathogens.

Methods: Bacteria were cultured from 5 kitchen and 5 bathroom sites using quantitative methods. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by standard methods.

Bromine and Chlorine Disinfection of Oocysts, Spores, and MS2 Coliphage in Water.

Conventional water treatment practices utilizing chemical disinfection, especially chlorination, are considered generally effective in producing microbiologically safe drinking water. However, protozoan pathogens such as oocysts of are very resistant to chlorine, which has led to consideration of alternative disinfectants for their control. Free bromine, HOBr, has not been evaluated extensively as an alternative halogen disinfectant for inactivation of in drinking water or reclaimed water for non-potable uses.

Deep tubewell use is associated with increased household microbial contamination in rural Bangladesh: Results from a prospective cohort study among households in rural Bangladesh.

Deep tubewells are important sources of arsenic mitigation in rural Bangladesh. Compared to commonly available shallow tubewells, deep tubewells tap into deeper low-arsenic aquifers and greatly reduce exposure to arsenic in drinking-water. However, benefits from these more distant and expensive sources may be compromised by higher levels of microbial contamination at point-of-use (POU).

Evaluation of Chitosans as Coagulants-Flocculants to Improve Sand Filtration for Drinking Water Treatment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that two billion people worldwide lack access to safely managed water sources, including 1.2 billion who already have access to improved water sources. In many countries, household point-of-use (POU) water-treatment options are used to remove or deactivate microorganisms in water, but not all POU technologies meet WHO performance requirements to achieve safe drinking water.

UV Inactivation of Common Pathogens and Surrogates Under 222 nm Irradiation from KrCl* Excimer Lamps.

Germicidal ultraviolet (UV) devices have been widely used for pathogen disinfection in water, air, and on food and surfaces. Emerging UV technologies, like the krypton chloride (KrCl*) excimer emitting at 222 nm, are rapidly gaining popularity due to their minimal adverse effects on skin and eyes compared with conventional UV lamps emitting at 254 nm, opening opportunities for UV disinfection in occupied public spaces. In this study, inactivation of seven bacteria and five viruses, including waterborne, foodborne and respiratory pathogens, was determined in a thin-film aqueous solution using a filtered KrCl* excimer emitting primarily at 222 nm.

Persistence of Coronavirus Surrogates on Meat and Fish Products during Long-Term Storage.

Multiple pathways of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission have been examined, and the role of contaminated foods as a source of SARS-CoV-2 exposure has been suggested. As many cases of SARS-CoV-2 have been linked to meat processing plants, it may be that conditions in live animal markets and slaughterhouses or meat processing plant procedures transfer viral particles to meat, poultry, and seafood during animal slaughter, processing, storage, or transport. Because of the potential for contamination of foods such as beef, chicken, pork, or fish, the goal of this study was to evaluate the survival of a lipid enveloped RNA bacteriophage, phi 6, as well as two animal coronaviruses, murine hepatitis virus (MHV) and transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), as SARS-CoV-2 surrogates for their survival under various meat and fish cold-storage conditions over 30 days.

Absence of virological and epidemiological evidence that SARS-CoV-2 poses COVID-19 risks from environmental fecal waste, wastewater and water exposures.

This review considers evidence for infectious severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) presence and COVID-19 infection and illness resulting from exposure to environmental fecal wastes and waters. There is no documented evidence that (1) infectious, replication-capable SARS-CoV-2 is present in environmental fecal wastes, wastewater or water, and (2) well-documented epidemiological evidence of COVID-19 infection, illness or death has never been reported for these exposure media. COVID-19 is transmitted mainly by direct personal contact and respiratory secretions as airborne droplets and aerosols, and less so by respiratory-secreted fomites via contact (touch) exposures.

Microbial reductions and physical characterization of chitosan flocs when using chitosan acetate as a cloth filter aid in water treatment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 2.1 billion people lack access to safely managed water. Cloth filtration is often employed in rural and developing communities of South Asia for point-of-use water treatment, but bacteria and viruses are too small for efficient removal by this filtration method.

Evaluating Fecal Indicator and Pathogen Relationships in Sewage Impacted Surface Waters to Blend with Reclaimed Water for Potable Reuse in North Carolina.

Surface waters used for drinking water supply often receive upstream wastewater effluent inputs, resulting in de facto wastewater reuse for drinking water and recreation. As populations grow, demands on water supplies increase. As this trend continues, it creates the need to understand the risks associated with such reuse.

Chitosan Coagulation Pretreatment to Enhance Ceramic Water Filtration for Household Water Treatment.

Viruses are major contributors to the annual 1.3 million deaths associated with the global burden of diarrheal disease morbidity and mortality. While household-level water treatment technologies reduce diarrheal illness, the majority of filtration technologies are ineffective in removing viruses due to their small size relative to filter pore size.

UV Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 across the UVC Spectrum: KrCl* Excimer, Mercury-Vapor, and Light-Emitting-Diode (LED) Sources.

Effective disinfection technology to combat severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can help reduce viral transmission during the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic and in the future. UV devices emitting UVC irradiation (200 to 280 nm) have proven to be effective for virus disinfection, but limited information is available for SARS-CoV-2 due to the safety requirements of testing, which is limited to biosafety level 3 (BSL3) laboratories. In this study, inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in thin-film buffered aqueous solution (pH 7.

Occurrence of male-specific and somatic coliphages and relationship with rainfall in privately-owned wells from peri‑urban and rural households.

Privately-owned drinking water wells serving fewer than 25 people (private wells) are prevalent and understudied across most of the US. Private wells primarily serve rural households located outside of municipal drinking water and sewerage service coverage areas. These wells are not regulated by United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Safe Drinking Water Act, are not regularly monitored by any public agency or utility, and generally do not undergo disinfection treatment.

Inactivation of Coronaviruses and Phage Phi6 from Irradiation across UVC Wavelengths.

Ultraviolet (UV) devices emitting UVC irradiation (200-280 nm) have proven to be effective for virus disinfection, especially on surfaces and in air, due to their rapid effectiveness and limited to no material corrosion. Numerous studies of UV-induced inactivation focused on nonenveloped viruses. Little is known about UVC action on enveloped viruses across UVC wavelengths.

Considering Alternate Pathways of Drinking-Water Contamination: Evidence of Risk Substitution from Arsenic Mitigation Programs in Rural Bangladesh.

Deep tubewells are a key component of arsenic mitigation programs in rural Bangladesh. Compared to widely prevalent shallow tubewells, deep tubewells reduce ground-water arsenic exposure and provide better microbial water quality at source. However, the benefits of clean drinking-water at these more distant sources may be abated by higher levels of microbial contamination at point-of-use.

Turbidity reduction in drinking water by coagulation-flocculation with chitosan polymers.

Turbidity reduction by coagulation-flocculation in drinking water reduces microbes and organic matter, increasing effectiveness of downstream treatment. Chitosan is a promising household water coagulant, but needs parameters for use. This study tested the effects of chitosan dose, molecular weight (MW), degree of deacetylation (DD), and functional groups on bentonite and kaolinite turbidity reduction in model household drinking water.

A bioassay-based protocol for chemical neutralization of human faecal wastes treated by physico-chemical disinfection processes: A case study on benzalkonium chloride.

In situ physico-chemical disinfection of high risk faecal waste is both effective and widely used as a sanitation management strategy for infection prevention and control. Systematic tests where the performance of alternative physico-chemical disinfection methods is systematically compared and optimized must be based on reliable protocols. These protocol are currently not adequately addressing the neutralization related issues: the neutralization of the tested disinfectant after specified conditions of concentration and contact time (CT) is necessary to prevent continued disinfection after the intended contact time; moreover such neutralization is often necessary in practice and on a large scale to prevent adverse health and ecological impacts from remaining disinfectant after the target CT is achieved.

Tertiary treatment and dual disinfection to improve microbial quality of reclaimed water for potable and non-potable reuse: A case study of facilities in North Carolina.

Treated wastewater is increasingly of interest for either nonpotable purposes, such as agriculture and industrial use, or as source water for drinking water supplies; however, this type of advanced treatment for water supply is not always possible for many low resource settings. As an alternative, multiple barriers of physical, chemical and biological treatment with lower cost and simpler operation and maintenance have been proposed as more globally applicable. One such water reclamation system for both non-potable and potable reuse, is that approved by the State of North Carolina "for Type 2" reclaimed water (NCT2RW).

Rapid Detection of Escherichia coli in Water Using Sample Concentration and Optimized Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Chromogenic Substrates.

Methods for rapid detection of fecal indicator bacteria in water are important to ensure that water is safe for drinking, bathing, recreation, fishing and shellfish harvesting. In this study, we tested experimental conditions for bacterial hydrolysis of two promising enzymatic substrates, 5-Bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl β-D-glucuronide (X-Gluc) and Resorufin β-D-glucuronide (REG), and optimized parameters such as temperature and pH to determine conditions for rapid reactions. We then innovated a membrane filter-based approach to facilitate more rapid enzyme-based detection of Escherichia coli in water based on the combination of an initial concentration step and optimized test conditions.

E. coli CB390: An alternative E. coli host for simultaneous detection of somatic and F+ coliphage viruses in reclaimed and other waters.

Somatic and F+ coliphages have been identified and validated as virus indicators of fecal contamination in ground water by US EPA and more recently they are being considered for use in managing both marine and fresh recreational water and wastewater discharges. Studies documenting their usefulness as viral indicator in reclaimed water sources in the USA are limited. However, simultaneous detection of both somatic and F+ coliphages on a single E.