RESUMO
This study assessed the bacterial community composition of a drinking water system (DWS) serving a mid-sized city (120,000 inhabitants) in Brazil. Water samples, including raw and treated water, were collected at seven points throughout the DWS. DNA was extracted and analysed using high-throughput sequencing (Ion Torrent). Free chlorine and turbidity were measured in situ. Results showed that the highest relative abundance of 16S rRNA genes was from phyla Proteobacteria, followed by Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. The next most abundant phylum was Cyanobacteria, represented by Arthronema, Calothrix, and Synechococcus. An interesting observation was that the DNA-based analysis suggested a bacterial community change in the distribution network, with treated reservoir water being very different from the network samples. This suggests active microbiology within the distribution network and a tendency for bacterial diversity to decrease after chlorine disinfection but increase after pipeline distribution. In raw water, a predominance of Proteobacteria was observed with reduced Cyanobacteria, showing a negative correlation. In treated water, Proteobacteria were negatively correlated with Bacteroidetes. Finally, 16S rRNA genes from Firmicutes (especially Staphylococcus) had a high abundance in the chlorinated water, which may indicate the phylum's resistance to chlorine residuals. Opportunistic pathogens, e.g., Mycobacteria, Legionella, and Staphylococcus, were also observed.
Assuntos
Cianobactérias , Água Potável , Água Potável/microbiologia , Cloro/farmacologia , RNA Ribossômico 16S/genética , Brasil , Proteobactérias/genética , Cianobactérias/genética , Bacteroidetes/genética , Abastecimento de ÁguaRESUMO
The feasibility of employing anammox and partial nitritation-anammox (PN/A) processes for nitrogen removal from food waste (FW) digestate was investigated in this study. The effects of different aeration strategies on the microbial community were also investigated. To achieve this, after anammox enrichment (Phase 1), the reactor was fed with digestate supplemented with nitrite (Phase 2), and subsequently different aeration strategies were evaluated to establish PN/A. Aeration strategies with high anoxic periods (30 and 45â¯min) in relation to aerobic periods (15â¯min) coupled with low air flow rates (0.026â¯L⯠min-1. Lreator-1) were found to be better for establishing PN/A, as coefficients of produced nitrate/removed ammonium were closer to those reported previously (0.17 and 0.21). Aeration conditions considerably altered the microbial community. Candidatus Brocadia was replaced by Candidatus Jettenia, after the first aeration strategies. These results support the feasibility of FW digestate treatment using anammox and PN/A processes and provide a better understanding of the effect of aeration on microbial dynamics in PN/A reactors.
Assuntos
Microbiota , Eliminação de Resíduos , Reatores Biológicos , Desnitrificação , Alimentos , Nitrogênio , OxirreduçãoRESUMO
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an approach with the potential to complement clinical surveillance systems. Using WBE, it is possible to carry out an early warning of a possible outbreak, monitor spatial and temporal trends of infectious diseases, produce real-time results and generate representative epidemiological information in a territory, especially in areas of social vulnerability. Despite the historical uses of this approach, particularly in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and for other pathogens, it was during the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred an exponential increase in environmental surveillance programs for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, with many experiences and developments in the field of public health using data for decision making and prioritizing actions to control the pandemic. In Latin America, WBE was applied in heterogeneous contexts and with emphasis on populations that present many socio-environmental inequalities, a condition shared by all Latin American countries. This manuscript addresses the concepts and applications of WBE in public health actions, as well as different experiences in Latin American countries, and discusses a model to implement this surveillance system at the local or national level. We emphasize the need to implement this sentinel surveillance system in countries that want to detect the early entry and spread of new pathogens and monitor outbreaks or epidemics of infectious agents in their territories as a complement of public health surveillance systems.
Assuntos
COVID-19 , Vigilância Epidemiológica Baseada em Águas Residuárias , Humanos , América Latina/epidemiologia , Pandemias/prevenção & controle , COVID-19/epidemiologia , SARS-CoV-2 , Surtos de Doenças/prevenção & controleRESUMO
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global health crisis, and wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has emerged as an important tool to assist public health decision-making. Recent studies have shown that the SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration in wastewater samples is a reliable indicator of the severity of the pandemic for large populations. However, few studies have established a strong correlation between the number of infected people and the viral concentration in wastewater due to variations in viral shedding over time, viral decay, infiltration, and inflow. Herein we present the relationship between the number of COVID-19-positive patients and the viral concentration in wastewater samples from three different hospitals (A, B, and C) in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A positive and strong correlation between wastewater SARS-CoV-2 concentration and the number of confirmed cases was observed for Hospital B for both regions of the N gene (R = 0.89 and 0.77 for N1 and N2, respectively), while samples from Hospitals A and C showed low and moderate correlations, respectively. Even though the effects of viral decay and infiltration were minimized in our study, the variability of viral shedding throughout the infection period and feces dilution due to water usage for different activities in the hospitals could have affected the viral concentrations. These effects were prominent in Hospital A, which had the smallest sewershed population size, and where no correlation between the number of defecations from COVID-19 patients and viral concentration in wastewater was observed. Although we could not determine trends in the number of infected patients through SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in hospitals' wastewater samples, our results suggest that wastewater monitoring can be efficient for the detection of infected individuals at a local level, complementing clinical data.
Assuntos
COVID-19 , SARS-CoV-2 , Humanos , COVID-19/epidemiologia , Pandemias , Águas Residuárias , Brasil/epidemiologia , RNA Viral , HospitaisRESUMO
The partial nitritation/anammox process (PN/A) could be a promising alternative for nitrogen removal from high-strength wastewater. There is, however, a lack of information about suitable aeration and temperature for PN/A in single-stage reactors for high-strength wastewater, such as food waste (FW) digestate treatment. To this end, a laboratory-scale (10 L) partial nitritation/anammox sequencing batch reactor was operated for more than 230 days under four different intermittent aeration strategies and temperature variations (35°C and ambient temperature - 26-29°C) to investigate the feasibility of nitrogen removal from real FW digestate. High ammonium (NH4+-N) and total nitrogen (TN) removal median efficiencies of 81 and 63%, respectively (corresponding to median NH4+-N and TN loads removed of 76 and 67â g.m-3.d-1), were achieved when the aeration strategy comprised by 7â min/14â min off and an airflow rate of 0.050â L.min-1.Lreactor-1 was applied. Nitrogen removal efficiencies were not affected by temperature variations in southeastern Brazil. COD, chloride and organic nitrogen (520, 239 and 102.8â mg.L-1, respectively) did not prevent PN/A. Changes of the bacterial community in response to aeration strategies were observed. Candidatus Brocadia dominated most of the time being more resistant to aeration and temperature changes than Candidatus Jettenia. This study demonstrated that optimizations of anoxic periods and airflow rate support PN/A with high nitrogen removal from FW digestate.
Assuntos
Compostos de Amônio , Eliminação de Resíduos , Oxidação Anaeróbia da Amônia , Bactérias , Reatores Biológicos/microbiologia , Desnitrificação , Alimentos , Nitrogênio , Oxirredução , Esgotos , Temperatura , Águas ResiduáriasRESUMO
The effects of temperature reduction (from 35⯰C to 20⯰C) on nitrogen removal performance and microbial diversity of an anammox sequencing batch reactor were evaluated. The reactor was fed for 148â¯days with anaerobically pretreated municipal wastewater amended with nitrite. On average, removal efficiencies of ammonium and nitrite were high (96%) during the enrichment period and phases 1 (at 35⯰C) and 2 (at 25⯰C), and slightly decreased (to 90%) when the reactor was operated at 20⯰C. Deep sequencing analysis revealed that microbial community structure changed with temperature decrease. Anammox bacteria (Ca. Brocadia and Ca. Anammoximicrobium) and denitrifiers (Burkholderiales, Myxococcales, Rhodocyclales, Xanthomonadales, and Pseudomonadales) were favoured when the temperature was lowered from 35⯰C to 25⯰C, while Anaerolineales and Clostridiales were negatively affected. The results support the feasibility of using the anammox process for mainstream nitrogen removal from anaerobically pretreated municipal wastewater at typical tropical temperatures.
Assuntos
Reatores Biológicos , Purificação da Água , Anaerobiose , Desnitrificação , Nitrogênio , Oxirredução , Temperatura , Águas ResiduáriasRESUMO
Long-term effects of COD/N ratios on the nitrogen removal performance and bacterial community of an anammox reactor were evaluated by adding a synthetic medium (with glucose) and real anaerobic effluent to a SBR. At a COD/N ratio of 2.8 (COD, 390mg·L(-1)) ammonium removal efficiency was 66%, while nitrite removal remained high (99%). However, at a COD/N ratio of 5.0 (COD, 300mg·L(-1)), ammonium and nitrite removal efficiencies were high (84% and 99%, respectively). High COD, nitrite, and ammonium removal efficiencies (80%, 90% and 95%, respectively) were obtained on adding anaerobically pre-treated municipal wastewater (with nitrite) to the reactor. DGGE revealed that the addition of anaerobic effluent changed the bacterial community structure and selected for DNA sequences related to Brocadia sinica and Chloroflexi. Adding glucose and anaerobic effluent increased denitrifiers concentration threefold. Thus, the possibility of using the anammox process to remove nitrogen from anaerobically pre-treated municipal wastewater was demonstrated.
Assuntos
Reatores Biológicos/microbiologia , Nitrogênio , Águas Residuárias , Purificação da Água/métodos , Anaerobiose , Análise da Demanda Biológica de Oxigênio , Nitritos/análise , Nitritos/química , Nitritos/isolamento & purificação , Nitrogênio/análise , Nitrogênio/química , Nitrogênio/isolamento & purificação , Águas Residuárias/química , Águas Residuárias/microbiologiaRESUMO
The effects of phenol on the nitrogen removal performance of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with anammox activity and on the microbial community within the reactor were evaluated. A phenol concentration of 300 mg L(-1) reduced the ammonium-nitrogen removal efficiency of the SBR from 96.5% to 47%. The addition of phenol changed the microbial community structure and composition considerably, as shown by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes. Some phyla, such as Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, and Firmicutes, increased in abundance, whereas others, such as Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, GN04, WS3, and NKB19, decreased. The diversity of the anammox bacteria was also affected by phenol: sequences related to Candidatus Brocadia fulgida were no longer detected, whereas sequences related to Ca. Brocadia sp. 40 and Ca. Jettenia asiatica persisted. These results indicate that phenol adversely affects anammox metabolism and changes the bacterial community within the anammox reactor.