Efficacy of the solar water disinfection method in turbid waters experimentally contaminated with Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts under real field conditions.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of the solar water disinfection (SODIS) method for inactivating Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts in turbid waters using 1.5 l polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles under natural sunlight. METHODS: All experiments were performed at the Plataforma Solar de Almería, located in the Tabernas Desert (Southern Spain) in July and October 2007. Turbid water samples [5, 100 and 300 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU)] were prepared by addition of red soil to distilled water, and then spiked with purified C. parvum oocysts. PET bottles containing the contaminated turbid waters were exposed to full sunlight for 4, 8 and 12 h. The samples were then concentrated by filtration and the oocyst viability was determined by inclusion/exclusion of the fluorogenic vital dye propidium iodide. Results After an exposure time of 12 h (cumulative global dose of 28.28 MJ/m(2); cumulative UV dose of 1037.06 kJ/m(2)) the oocyst viabilities were 11.54%, 25.96%, 41.50% and 52.80% for turbidity levels of 0, 5, 100 and 300 NTU, respectively, being significantly lower than the viability of the initial isolate (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: SODIS method significantly reduced the potential viability of C. parvum oocysts on increasing the percentage of oocysts that took up the dye PI (indicator of cell wall integrity), although longer exposure periods appear to be required than those established for the bacterial pathogens usually tested in SODIS assays. SODIS.

Lethal synergy of solar UV-radiation and H(2)O(2) on wild Fusarium solani spores in distilled and natural well water.

Environmentally-friendly disinfection methods are needed in many industrial applications. As a natural metabolite of many organisms, hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2))-based disinfection may be such a method as long as H(2)O(2) is used in non-toxic concentrations. Nevertheless, when applied alone as a disinfectant, H(2)O(2) concentrations need to be high enough to achieve significant pathogen reduction, and this may lead to phytotoxicity. This paper shows how H(2)O(2) disinfection concentrations could be significantly reduced by using the synergic lethality of H(2)O(2) and sunlight the first time for fungi and disinfection. Experiments were performed on spores of Fusarium solani, the ubiquitous, pytho- and human pathogenic fungus. Laboratory (250-mL bottles) and pilot plant solar reactors (2 x 14 L compound parabolic collectors, CPCs) were employed with distilled water and real well water under natural sunlight. This opens the way to applications for agricultural water resources, seed disinfection, curing of fungal skin infections, etc.

Bactericidal effect of solar water disinfection under real sunlight conditions.

Batch solar disinfection (SODIS) inactivation kinetics are reported for suspensions in water of Campylobacter jejuni, Yersinia enterocolitica, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and endospores of Bacillus subtilis, exposed to strong natural sunlight in Spain and Bolivia. The exposure time required for complete inactivation (at least 4-log-unit reduction and below the limit of detection, 17 CFU/ml) under conditions of strong natural sunlight (maximum global irradiance, approximately 1,050 W m(-2) +/- 10 W m(-2)) was as follows: C. jejuni, 20 min; S. epidermidis, 45 min; enteropathogenic E. coli, 90 min; Y. enterocolitica, 150 min. Following incomplete inactivation of B. subtilis endospores after the first day, reexposure of these samples on the following day found that 4% (standard error, 3%) of the endospores remained viable after a cumulative exposure time of 16 h of strong natural sunlight. SODIS is shown to be effective against the vegetative cells of a number of emerging waterborne pathogens; however, bacterial species which are spore forming may survive this intervention process.

Feasibility studies: UV/chlorine advanced oxidation treatment for the removal of emerging contaminants.

UV/chlorine (UV/HOCl and UV/ClO(2)) Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) were assessed with varying process layout and compared to the state of the art UV/H(2)O(2) AOP. The process comparison focused on the economical and energy saving potential of the UV/chlorine AOP. Therefore the experiments were performed at technical scale (250 L/h continuous flow reactor) and at process energies, oxidant and model contaminant concentrations expected in full scale reference plants. As model compounds the emerging contaminants (ECs): desethylatrazine, sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, diclofenac, benzotriazole, tolyltriazole, iopamidole and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) were degraded at initial compound concentrations of 1 µg/L in tap water and matrixes with increased organic load (46 mg/L DOC). UV/chlorine AOP organic by-product forming potential was assessed for trihalomethanes (THMs) and N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). A process design was evaluated which can considerably reduce process costs, energy consumption and by-product generation from UV/HOCl AOPs.

Batch solar disinfection inactivates oocysts of Cryptosporidium parvum and cysts of Giardia muris in drinking water.

AIM: To determine whether batch solar disinfection (SODIS) can be used to inactivate oocysts of Cryptosporidium parvum and cysts of Giardia muris in experimentally contaminated water. METHODS AND RESULTS: Suspensions of oocysts and cysts were exposed to simulated global solar irradiation of 830 W m(-2) for different exposure times at a constant temperature of 40 degrees C. Infectivity tests were carried out using CD-1 suckling mice in the Cryptosporidium experiments and newly weaned CD-1 mice in the Giardia experiments. Exposure times of > or =10 h (total optical dose c. 30 kJ) rendered C. parvum oocysts noninfective. Giardia muris cysts were rendered completely noninfective within 4 h (total optical dose >12 kJ). Scanning electron microscopy and viability (4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole/propidium iodide fluorogenic dyes and excystation) studies on oocysts of C. parvum suggest that inactivation is caused by damage to the oocyst wall. CONCLUSIONS: Results show that cysts of G. muris and oocysts of C. parvum are rendered completely noninfective after batch SODIS exposures of 4 and 10 h (respectively) and is also likely to be effective against waterborne cysts of Giardia lamblia. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: These results demonstrate that SODIS is an appropriate household water treatment technology for use as an emergency intervention in aftermath of natural or man-made disasters against not only bacterial but also protozoan pathogens.