Life cycle assessment of drinking water and wastewater treatment works in mainland Scotland.

Assessing the global warming potential (GWP) of water treatment systems is vital for reducing the carbon footprint of the water industry and aiding the net zero target. The approach of life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to determine the GWPs of four drinking water treatment works (DWTW) and one wastewater treatment works (WWTW) on the Scottish mainland. The results were compared with a previous study on the DWTWs and WWTWs of five Scottish islands which used the same method (LCA), modelling and context as the mainland work.

Microbial stratification and DOM removal in drinking water biofilters: Implications for enhanced performance.

Biofiltration is a low-cost, low-energy technology that employs a biologically activated bed of porous medium to reduce the biodegradable fraction of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) pool in source water, resulting in the production of drinking water. Microbial communities at different bed depths within the biofilter play crucial roles in the degradation and removal of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ultimately impacting its performance. However, the relationships between the composition of microbial communities inhabiting different biofilter depths and their utilisation of various DOC fractions remain poorly understood.

A cross-reactive plasmonic sensing array for drinking water assessment.

The continuous monitoring of remote drinking water purification systems is a global challenge with direct consequences for human and environmental health. Here, we utilise a "nano-tastebud" sensor comprised of eight chemically-tailored plasmonic metasurfaces, for testing the composition of drinking water. Through undertaking a full chemometric analysis of the water samples and likely contaminants we were able to optimise the sensor specification to create an array of suitable tastebuds.

The Role of Chlorine in the Formation and Development of Tap Water Biofilms under Different Flow Regimes.

Water companies make efforts to reduce the risk of microbial contamination in drinking water. A widely used strategy is to introduce chlorine into the drinking water distribution system (DWDS). A subtle potential risk is that non-lethal chlorine residuals may select for chlorine resistant species in the biofilms that reside in DWDS.

1 gene abundance from septic tanks in Thailand using validated 1 primers.

Antimicrobial resistance is a global crisis, and wastewater treatment, including septic tanks, remains an important source of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes. The role of septic tanks in disseminating class 1 integron, and by extension AMR genes, in Thailand, where antibiotic use is unregulated remains understudied. We aimed to monitor gene abundance as a proxy to infer potential AMR from septic tanks in Thailand.