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Wastewater Microbiology
Bob Rawson
Recommended Text Books
• Manual of instruction for Wastewater Treatment
Plant Operators two Volume New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation LC
control OL220555M.
• Operation of Wastewater Treatment Plants Ken
Kerri.
• Wastewater Engineering Treatment Disposal
/Reuse. Metcalf & Eddy Dr. George
Tchobanoglous, U.C. Davis.
• Sewerage Organisms a Color Atlas, J Cox, Chicago.
Recommended References continued
• Standard Methods for the Examination of
Water and Wastewater, 21st Edition or most
recent available.
• MOP 11. WEF.
• EPA Technology Transfer see internet web
pages.
• White’s Manual of Chlorination.
• Any good recent Microbiology text book
Topics we will discuss
• Structure of the Cell. Plant Animal Bacterial.
• Fixed Film and Suspended Growth. (Examples)
• Biological Mechanisms that affect water
Quality and accomplish WW Treatment like:
– Photosynthesis
– Respiration Aerobic, Anaerobic and Facultative.
– Nutrient Assimilation, importance & Cycles of
• Carbon, Nitrogen, [phosphorous, sulfur.
Discussion Topics continued
• Description of Wastewater Microbes.
Structures
Pathogens: Disease causing organism
Microorganisms used in Wastewater Stabalization
Obnoxious organisms causeing Odor, Corrosion toxicity.
• Use of the Microscope.
• Common Laboratory test methods.
• TSS
• Coliform Tests
• BOD
• Bioasays
Three Domains Six Kingdoms
• Bacteria (Monera)
• Archea
• Eucaryota
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Plants
Animals
Fungi
Protista (The Protozoans)
• Protophyta
• Protozoa
• Protomycota
Phylogenetic Tree of Life
Taxonomy
• Domain
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Kingdom
Phylum (Division)
Subphylum
Class
Order
Family
Binomial
Genus
Species
Example of Taxonomy
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Eucaryota
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Terrapoda
Class Mammalia
Order Carnivora
Family Canidae
Genus Canis
Species Familiarias (The Familiar Dog)
Microbial Taxonomy
Naming, classifying microorganisms
• 1. Naming -Linnaeus introduced binomial
nomenclature
• -Every organism is given a unique two-part name
• Genus + specific epithet = species name
• Ex. Escherichia coli, Yersinia pestis, Bacillus anthracis
• 2. Classification -Organisms with similar
characteristics are grouped together
• Ex. Genus Bacillus
• Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus subtilus, Bacillus cerus
Microbial Taxonomy
Naming, classifying microorganisms
• -Higher levels of organization are used to group
species having similar characteristics
• Ex. Bacillaceae is the name of a Family that
contains several different species of rod-shaped,
spore-forming, Gram positive, aerobic bacteria
such as Bacillus anthracis, Bacillus subtilus and
Bacillus cereus
• 3. Identification
• -Determination of the name of an organism that
has been isolated by observing its characteristics
Differences Between Plant and Animal
Cells.
• Plant Cell
• Rigid support and Protection
• Cellulose a fiberous complex polysaccharide
allows H2o and air to pass through.
• Lignin a hard phenolic compound. Will react
with chlorine or fire to form dioxin.
• Plastids:
• leucoplasts Starch
Plant Cell continued
• Chromoplasts like Chloroplasts
• Chloroplasts contain Chlorophyll
• Responsible for photosynthesis by acting as a
catalyst to split H2O in the presence of light.
• We will discuss Photosynthesis further.
Plant Cell
Animal Cell
Typical Animal cell
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Cell Wall not absence of cell wall.
Cytoplasm. The intercellular contents
Organelles including:
Plastids .
Mitochondria. The power house ATP transactions.
Golgi Complex. Stores enzymesd
Cilia or flagella. Movement
Food Vacuole
Microorganisms and Their Impacts
• Microorganisms were the first living
organisms on the planet
– Prokaryotes (bacteria) 1st appeared ~3.5 billion
years ago
• Can be found nearly everywhere on earth in
large numbers
• -Soil, oceans, deep underground, extreme
environments, on and in higher organisms
• ~100 trillion (1014) microorganisms per
person
• 10 X number of cells of the human body !
• Most are in the intestinal tract
• ~1 trillion bacteria on the skin
• Normal flora aids food digestion and
synthesizes vitamins in intestinal tract, inhibit
growth of pathogenic microorgansisms by
competiting for space and nutrients
Importance of Microbes
• Major affect on the composition of gases in earth's atmosphere
– -Formation of oxygen by photosynthesis (required for survival by
many organisms) First source of Oxygen was Cyanobacteria.
– -Formation of carbon dioxide and methane during decomposition
(Greenhouse gasses)
• Transformations of nitrogen (major plant nutrient)
• Fix Carbon and Decompose organic matter.
– Agriculture, Wastewater Treatment, Bioremediation
Phytoremediation and Mycoremediation.
• Recycle nutrients
– -Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur
• Microorganisms also cause diseases. Pathogenic organisms
-There are two main types of microbial cells
• 1. Prokaryotic
• 2. Eukaryotic
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1. Prokaryotic
Small
Lack a nucleus or organelles
Often exist as single cells (unicellular)
All bacteria are prokaryotes
2. Eukaryotic
Larger than prokaryotes
Have a nucleus and organelles
May be unicellular or multicellular
Yeast, fungi, protozoa, algae, helminths
Main types of microbial cells Cont.
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2. Eukaryotic
Larger than prokaryotes
Have a nucleus and organelles
May be unicellular or multicellular
Yeast, fungi, protozoa, algae, helminths
Typical Animal Cell Continued
• Endoplasmic Reticulum with nodular
lysosomes.
• Lysosomes containing digestive enzymes
Virus
• -Viruses are small particles composed of
protein and nucleic acid (DNA or RNA)
• Do not have the characteristics that define
cellular organisms (see below)
• Only able to reproduce when inside a cell
• Obligate parasites that may have arisen as a
degenerate form of early bacteria.
Bacteria Cell
Bacteria Cell
• Capsule or Slime layer
• Slimes are Sticky Gelatinous Material secreted
by bacteria Cell
• Functions of slime layer.
• Allow bacteria to stick together onto substrate
or flocculate
• Protection from toxic environment like
chlorine UV
Further functions of Slime Layer
• Bacteria Stick together to a substrate or
floculate.
• Protection from hostile environment
• Trap Food which is adsorbed to the cell surface
by:
– Adsorb =Adhere to surface, in preparation for
absorption.
• Slimes contain enzymes which Digest food.
• Slimes contain endotoxins and exotoxins that
cause disease reactions.
Sizes of Microorganisms
• The micrometer, mm, is the unit of measure often
used to describe the size of microorganisms
• 1 mm = 1/1,000,000 meter = 0.000001 m = 1 x 10-6 m
• Typical sizes
• Viruses 0.01 to 0.2 mm
• Bacteria 0.2 to 5 mm
• Yeast 5 to 10 mm
• Algae 10 to 100 mm
• Protozoa 50 to 1000 mm
Activated Sludge
• A suspended Growth treatment Process using
microorganisms including; bacteria; fungi; and
protozoans.
• Three steps:
– Transfer of food
– Conversion of food to Cell Mass
– Flocculation or settling of organisms that are stuck
together.
Activate Sludge Transfer Continued
• Adsorption: Particles and colloids stick to the
slime layer
• Absorption: Nutrients passing through the cell
wall.
• Phagocytosis/ Pinocytosis
• Digestion:
• Osmosis solute moves from more
concentrated location to less concentrated
location down gradient.
Transfer continued
• Dialysis. Opposite of osmosis requires energy
• Active Transport. Water and oil don’t mix until we
add soap, or an emulsifier that acts as a carrier.
• Cell membranes contain phospholipid
• Large molecules that are on the outside like
glucose cannot get in like small uncharged
particles. To get in a carrier molecule attaches to
the particle making it soluble in the lipid layer just
like soap makes oil soluble in water. This requires
energy provided by ATP.
Further steps in Activated Sludge
Process
• Second Step is the Conversion processes:
• Respiration.
– Aerobic
– Anaerobic
– Facultative
• Flocculation:
– Happy well fed microbes stick together and settle
out taking nutrients colloids etc with them. They
become sludge (Bio Solids).
ATP
• ATP is Adenosine Triphosphate
• High energy phosphate bonded to a five
carbon sugar.
• Source of all energy for cell activity
• Primary reason for the importance of
phosphorous as a growth limiting factor in
wastewater and environmental systems.
(Algae blooms)
Photosynthesis
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Light Phase
Dark Phase
Light Phase:
Light strikes water (H2O
Water splits into H2 and O2 and an electron.
The O2 is given off and Hydrogen is
transferred to a hydrogen acceptor TNP or Triphosphopyridine nucleotide.
Light Phase of Photosynthesis
continued
• The electron is used by the mitochondria in
the cell to convert ADP into ATPand energy is
stored in the high energy phosphate chemical
bond.
• This ATP is used in the Dark Phase f
Photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis Dark Phase
• ATP + CO2 +H20 = PGAL
• PGAL is Phosphoglyceraldehyde a three
carbon sugar.
• 2 PGAL combine to form one six carbon sugar
called Glucose.
• Glucose is stored in the cell leucoplast for
future respiration.
• Water is produced as the final Hydrogen
acceptor.
Respiration, The flip side of
Photosynthesis
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Respiration is the reverse of photosynthesis
Two types of Respiration:
Aerobic Respiration. Free atmospheric O2
Anaerobic Respiration. Chemically bound O2
In aerobic Respiration Glucose is chemically
burned with oxygen in the cell to produce
water+ carbon dioxide + Energy.
Photosynthesis vs Respiration
Anaerobic Respiration
• When Free oxygen is not available other
hydrogen acceptors are used. CO2, SO4,NO2,NO3
• In anaerobic respiration the carbon substrate is
incompletely oxidized producing unstable
metabolites.
• In Plants and Yeasts : Alcohol and CO2 produced
when glucose is metabolized. (Beer and Bread).
• In Animals Glucose is converted to lactic acid in
muscles as a temporary hydrogen acceptor.
Digesters are Anaerobic processes
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Two Stages of Digesters:
Acid Stage: Fast.
Gas Stage: Slow and sensitive to temperature.
Acid Stage: Acid forming bacteria convert food
substrate into odorous volatile acids including:
Acetic
Caproic
Valeric
Butyric
Formic
Gas Stage of anaerobic Digestion.
• Gas forming bacteria convert volatile acids
into water and gases.
• The gases include:
– Carbon Dioxide CO2 35% Plus or Minus
– Ch4, Methane: 70 Percent + or – Hydrogen Sulfide:
– Argon:
Bacteria Vital Statistics
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Rigid unicellular microbes lacking chlorophyll
Size 2 X 0.7 Micron.;
Present everywhere.
Mostly Non-Pathogenic.
Necessary for higher forms of life to exist
because they recycle nutrients.
Methods of identifying Bacteria
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Multiple Fermentation Tube.
Membrane Filter
Enzyme Substrate.
Gram Staining
Specific media.
Bacteria Characterized
• Gross Appearance Growth and Morphology
including spore forming non-spore forming.
• Morphology is shape:
• Rod Shaped is called Bacillus : Coli, Typhoid.
• Sphere Shaped is called Coccus: Streptococci.
• Spirelus is corkscrew shaped: Cholera
Bacteria Characterized
• Gross Appearance: Spore former, Non-spore
Former Spore a walled resting stage harder to
kill.
• Morphology- Form: Rod, Sphere, Spiral.
• Temperature Range: Cold, Medium or hot
loving.
• Oxygen Requirement: Aerobic, anaerobic,
Facultative.
Bacterial Morphology
Temperature Characterization
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Psychrophiles or cryophiles Cold Loving
Mesophiles: Middle Temp Range.
Thermophiles: High Temperature Range.
Cryophyllic : Range 2 to 30 C. optimum 12 to 18
C degrees.
• Mesophyllic : Range 20 to 45 C. Optimum 25 to
40 C degrees
• Thermophyllic: Range 45 to 75 C. Optimum 55 to
65 C degrees.
Oxygen Requirement
• Aerobic requires free oxygen
• Anaerobic can use chemically bound oxygen
from: SO4, NO2, NO3, and metal oxides
• Facultative can use both metabolic pathways.
• When free oxygen is available they usually
prefer this because it yields more energy with
less work.
Effects of Microbiology on Human Life Expectancy and Mortality
Deaths/100,000
1920
1960
1995
Pneumonia & influenza
207
37
28
Tuberculosis
113
6
<1
Syphilis
16
2
<1
Diphtheria
15
<1
<1
Whooping cough
12
<1
<1
Measles
9
<1
<1
Other (nonmicrobial)
925
909
790
Life expectancy (years)
54
70
76
Increase in Life expectancy is mainly
due to:
• Between 1920 and 1991, there were 1,087
deaths associated with waterborne diseases. Of
those deaths, 83 percent occurred before 1936
and less than one percent occurred after 1970
Because:
• - Sewage treatment and disposal
• -Sanitary food handling
• -Drinking water treatment
• -Development of vaccines, antibiotics and
antiseptics
Importance of Wastewater Treatment
• Worldwide approximately 1,2 billion people do not have
access to clean and safe drinking water, and 2, to 4 billion
people lack sanitation.
• Worldwide, the lack of sanitary waste disposal and of clean
water for drinking, cooking, and washing is to blame for
over 12 million deaths a year.
• Every year, 5 million people die of waterborne diseases.
• An estimated 4 billion cases of diarrheal disease occur
every year, causing 3 million to 4 million deaths, mostly
among children.
Water Borne Diseases
Waterborne diseases are those acquired through
the ingestion of contaminated water. About 80
percent of all diseases are water-related. In many of
these illnesses, water infiltrated with sewage
spread the disease. An infected person or animal
may pass pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or protozoa
through waste into the water supply
Collection System Overflows are a
serious source of contamination
United States Waterborne diseases 1971 to 1992
New Waterborne Diseases
• In the last twenty years a number of pathogenic diseases have
appeared.
For example: in 1993 in Milwaukee, USA, 400.000 people fell
ill from using drinking water that was contaminated by
Cryptosporidium cysts.
• In the year 2000, 2.300 people fell ill in Walkerton, Canada,
because of E. coli O157:H7.
• In the future more pathogenic microorganisms will emerge
and spread through water, because of agricultural
magnification, increased population growth, increased
migration and climate change. Pathogenic microorganisms
can also emerge because they built up resistance to
disinfectants and antibiotics.
Pathogenic Bacteria -Typhoid
• Typhoid Salmonella typhosa. Exclusively in
mans intestine lives 5 months in ice and weeks
in soil and feces. In the USA, there are
approximately 40,000 cases of Salmonella
infection reported each year.[4] According to
the World Health Organization, over 16 million
people worldwide are infected with typhoid
fever each year, with 500,000 to 600,000 fatal
cases.
Typhoid
• Typhoid fever is transmitted by food and
water contaminated by the feces and urine of
carriers. Polluted water is the most common
source. Typhoid fever is characterized by the
sudden onset of sustained fever, severe
headache, nausea, severe loss of appetite,
constipation or diarrhea, mental dullness and
meningitis. Most cases in developed countries
are imported from endemic countries.
Pathogenic Bacteria Cholera
Cholera Vibro comma. Endemic in Asia and common in
South America. Can be killed with chlorine and 1 week
of detention. Using contaminated sewage for fertilizer
can result in epidemics of cholera. These diseases can
become chronic where clean water supplies are lacking.
In the early 1990s, raw sewage used to fertilize
vegetable fields caused outbreaks of cholera in Chile
and Peru. The epidemic spread to 19 Latin American
countries and has been only partially abated. More
than a million cases and 12,000 deaths have been
reported.
Cholera
• In 1832, 1.75% of the New York population was
killed as a result of the cholera epidemic in a
period of six weeks. This is the equivalent of
140,000 New Yorkers today. The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that more than
25,000 people throughout the world die every
day from waterborne diseases. Every year, nearly
1.5 billion people (mostly children under five)
suffer from preventable waterborne diseases
such as cholera.
Cholera
Symptoms of Choler include high fever and a
rice-like diarrhea in which the "rice" is actually
pieces of the victim's colon flaking away. It has a
short incubation period, from less than one day
to five days, and can quickly lead to severe
dehydration and death if treatment is not
promptly given.
Cholera a Spirochete
Pathogenic Bacteria Gastroenteritis
• In 1965 Bacterial Gastroenteritis caused
18,ooo people in Riverside to become sick due
to sewerage cross connection, caused by:
• Shigella dysenteria
• Paratyphoid.
• IN 1966 , 18,000 people in Riverside CA.
developed enteritis due to seer contaminated
drinking H2O
Pathogenic Bacteria Salmonella
• Salmonella typhi. Salmonella can survive for
weeks outside a living body. They have been
found in dried excrement after more than 2.5
years. Salmonella are not destroyed by freezing .
Ultraviolet radiation and heat accelerate
disinfection; they perish after being heated to
55 °C (131 °F) for one hour, or to 60 °C (140 °F)
for half an hour. To protect against Salmonella
infection, it is recommended that food be heated
for at least ten minutes at 75 °C (167 °F) so that
the center of the food reaches thermal death at
this temperature.
Salmonella Outbreaks.
• A salmonellosis outbreak began in the spring
of 2008 resulting in the illness of hundreds of
people throughout the United States.
Contaminated fresh peppers tomatoes and
cilantro grown on certain farms in Mexico are
believed to be responsible. The contamination
source is likely to have been wastewater used
for irrigation.
Pathogenic Bacteria Leptospirosa
Weils Disease, Leptospira is carried in urine by
rats can be fatal, attacks kidneys and liver, 100
cases a year. Sewer workers more likely to be
aflicted. Dogs and other animals vulnerable. Sea
Lions are often affected resulting in periodic die
offs.
Pathogenic Bacteria Tetanus
• Tetanus (Lock Jaw) Clostridium tetani is a gram
positive anaerobic spore forming soil and
feces saprophytic none parasitic free living
organism that enters cuts and is 19 percent
fatal.
Pathogenic Bacteria Tuberculosis
• Tuberculosis is Mycobacterium tuberculosis: It
can be contacted by aspiration of sewage in to
lung and by aerosols. Only case attributed to
Wastewater inhalation from worker who fell
into activated sludge tank and aspirated
sludge.
• Iron Bacteria cause fouling plugging pipes staining clothes.
They obtain their energy from the oxidation of ferrous Iron
• Crenotrix
• Thiobacillus
• Ferrrooxidans
• Sulfur Bacteria feed on sulfer containing compounds:
• Beggiotoa and Thiobacillus
• Desulfovibro reduce sulfate to hydrogen sulfide which later
may oxidize to produce sulfuric acid which corrodes
concrete and metal pipe. H2S is very toxic and explosive.
Crown Corrosion Sulfur Desulfovibro
Bacteria
Cyanobacteria
• Once referred to as Blue Green Algae. Simple
none motile chlorophyll bearing bacteria. Cause
odor dense matts and some are poisonous. Milk
and animals.
• Fix nitrogen from the atmosphere.
• Some are toxic. Annie, Fannie, Mike.
• Anabaena: They are one of four genera of
cyanobacteria that produce neurotoxins.
• Microcistis
• Apanizomenon
Microcystis
• Microcystis, a genus of Cyanobacteria is a
microscopic organism that is found naturally
at low concentrations in freshwater systems
such as lakes and streams.
• Although not an algae it can be controlled
with the application of Aqua Marine Shadow,
a blue dye because it photosynthesizes.
Microcystis
Microcystis occasionally forms a harmful algal
bloom (HAB). Microcystins are hepatotoxins
(toxins that acts upon the liver) and known
tumor promoters. If people drink water
contaminated by microcystins, symptoms of
exposure include nausea, vomiting and, in very
rare but severe cases, acute liver failure.
Anabaena
Physical factors affecting Bacteria
• Temperature: Enzymes are destroyed at Thermal
Death 75 C. Sterilization requires 15 minutes 15
pounds steam, at 121 C. Drying causes spore
formation so wet heat is superior to dry heat.
• Bacteriostatic agents prevent reproduction.
• UV light 2900 Angstrom ionization creates free
radicals that destroy DNA.
• pH 6.8 to 7.4 is optimum range. Very few bacteria
survive below pH 4 or Above 10
• Electrolytic balance Pickling kills by dehydration,
disrupts Osmotic balance.
Factors affecting Bacteria continued
• Availability of food c, N, S, P, O2, H, trace
elements.
• Presence of oxygen or equivalent hydrogen
acceptor.
Growth phases of Bacteria in Batch
Coliform Bacteria Defined
• Coliform bacteria are found in the gut of all warm
blooded animals. They are not necessarily
pathogenic, usually symbiotic, essential for our
metabolism, their presence is positive evidence
of fecal contamination therefore the coliform
test.
• Coliform Bacteria are all Aerobic and facultative
Anaerobic Gram Negative, Non-spore forming
Rod shaped Bacteria that Ferment Lactose Broth
in 48 hours at 35 degrees C and produce gas.
Remember this definition.
Wastewater Pathogenic Viruses
• Sewage treatment may reduce the number of viruses
10-1000-fold.
• Treatment will not eliminate all virus.
• Sewerage Sludge will often contain large numbers of
Virus.
• Receiving water carries viruses downstream where
they remain detectable for a varying period of time,
depending on temperature, their absorption onto
sediments, and the depth of sunlight penetration.
• Enteric viruses can be found in sewage polluted water
at the intakes to downstream water-treatment plants.
What are Virus
Smallest life form ? Both DNA and RNA types
with a Protein coat. DNA and protein coat can
be separated and recombined. All are obligate
parasites. Not visible with light microscope.
There is estimated to be 1 pathogenic virus per
million coliform bacteria in sewerage. Coliform
test is important surrogate test for enteric
pathogenic virus. Turbidity is important because
colloidal particles are similar in size to virus.
Norovirus (Norwalk agent)
• Norovirus is an RNA virus of the caliciviridae.
• Norwalk causes approximately 90% of epidemic nonbacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis around the world,
and may be responsible for 50% of all foodborne
gastroenteritis in the US.
• Norovirus is transmitted by faecally contaminated food or
water, by person-to-person contact, and via aerosolization
of the virus and subsequent contamination of surfaces.
• After infection, immunity to norovirus is usually incomplete
and temporary. There is an inherited predisposition to
infection. Individuals with type o blood are more often
infected, while blood types B and AB can confer partial
protection against symptomatic infection.
Norovirus Symptoms
• When a person becomes infected with norovirus, the
virus begins to multiply within the small intestine.
• After approximately 1 to 2 days, norovirus symptoms
can appear.
• The principal symptom is acute gastroenteritis that
develops between 24 and 48 hours after exposure, and
lasts for 24–60 hours. The disease is usually selflimiting, and characterized by nausea, vomiting,
diarrhea, abdominal pain; and, loss of taste. General
lethargy, weakness, muscle aches, headache, and lowgrade fever may occur.
Norwalk Virus
• Severe illness is rare.
• The number of deaths from norovirus in the
US is estimated to be around 300 each year,
with most of these occurring in the very
young, elderly and persons with weakened
immune systems.
• Symptoms may become life-threatening in
these groups if dehydration is ignored or not
treated.
Yellow Fever
• Yellow Fever
Yellow fever and Dengue Fever (Bone Crush) are both viral
diseases carried by mosquitoes that bread in contaminated
water including septic tanks. Yellow Fever has caused large
epidemics in Africa and the Americas. The infection causes
a wide spectrum of disease, from mild symptoms to severe
illness and death. The "yellow" in the name is explained by
the jaundice that affects some patients. The number of
people infected with Yellow Fever over the last two
decades has increased and yellow fever is now a serious
public health issue. There are 200,000 estimated cases of
yellow fever and 30,000 deaths per year.
Hepatitis Virus
Numerous strains A,B, C, D,E.
Hepatitis A (formerly known as infectious hepatitis is an
acute infectious disease of the liver caused by the
hepatitis A virus (HAV), which is transmitted person-toperson by ingestion of contaminated food or water or
through direct contact with an infectious person. Tens of
millions of individuals worldwide are estimated to
become infected with HAV each year. The time between
infection and the appearance of the symptoms (the
incubation period is between two and six weeks and the
average incubation period is 28 days.
Hepatitis A
The Hepatitis A virus is viable outside of a host for
three months or more. It is killed by exposure to UV
light hence detention time in reservoirs exposed to
sunlight and aeration is effective.
Symptoms: Nausea, Fever, fatigue, Jaundice. Acute
liver failure from Hepatitis A is rare. (overall casefatality rate: 0.5%
HAV is excreted in the feces towards the end of the
incubation period.
Poliomyelitis Virus
• Poliovirus, the causative agent of poliomyelitis is a
human entero-cyto-pathogenic virus.
• Transmitted by oral fecal route – Therefrore wastwater.
• Paralytic disease occurs when the virus enters the CNS
and replicates in motor neurons.
• Poliovirus is structurally similar to other human
enteroviruses such as coxsakievirus and Echovirus.
• Wild polioviruses can be found in approximately 10
countries: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Nigeria,
and Egypt, with a 2004 outbreak in West and Central
Africa. Wild poliovirus type 2 has probably been
eradicated.
Influenza Virus- the Flu
• Influenza is an infectious disease caused by an RNA
family of viruses, the Orthomysoviridae that affects
Birds and mammals.
• It is believed to be of avian origin.
• Symptoms include chills, fever, soar throat, muscle
pain, weakness, nausea, vomiting.
• transmitted through the air by coughs or sneezes,
creating aerosols or by direct contact with bird
droppings, or contact with contaminated surfaces.
• Influenza viruses can be inactivated by sunlight or
soap.
Influenza
• Influenza spreads around the world in seasonal epidemics
resulting in the deaths of between 250,000 and 500,000
people every year and millions in some pandemic years. On
average 41,400 people died each year in the United States
between 1979 and 2001 from influenza.
• Three influenza pandemics occurred in the 20th century
and killed tens of millions of people.
• Often, these new strains appear when an existing flu virus
spreads to humans from other animal species or when an
existing human strain picks up new genes from a virus that
usually infects birds or pigs from integrated Agricultural
practices. An avian strain named H5N1 raised the concern
of a new influenza pandemic after it emerged in Asia in the
1990s
Adenovirus
• Adenoviruses are acute respiratory disease causing
virus which are transmitted by direct contact, fecal-oral
transmission, and occasionally waterborne
transmission.
• Can establish persistent asymptomatic infections in
tonsils, adenoids, and intestines of infected host. Can
cause necrotizing pneumonia.
• Shedding can occur for months or years and is endemic
in parts of the world.
• Epidemic conjunctivitis are associated with waterborne
transmission, centering around inadequately
chlorinated swimming pools and small lakes.
Coxsackie Virus
• Coxsackie is an Enteroviruses transmitted by the
fecal-oral route. It shares many characteristics
with poliovirus. Thus wastewater is a carrier.
• Can cause spastic paralysis, infect the heart,
pleura, pancreas, and liver, causing pleurodynia,
myocarditis, pericarditis, liver. Coxsackie B
infection of the heart can lead to pericardial
effusion. The development of insulin-dependent
diabetes (IDDM) has recently been associated
with coxsackievirus B pancreatitis.
E.C.H.O. Virus
• ECHO (Enteric Cytopathic Human Orphan) virus, is a type
of RNA virus found in the gastrointestinal tract. Exposure
to ECHO often causes other opportunistic infections and
diseases. Oral Fecal transmission by contaminated water,
food, and fomites (inanimate objects) Wastewater.
• After infection virus spreads to lymph nodes or is
swallowed and reaches the lower gut spreading to heart
spleen, nervous system, lungs, bone marrow, liver.
• ECHO is the most common cause of aseptic menengitis.
Infection of an infant with this virus following birth is
associated with high infant mortality rates.
Coliphage
• MS2 Coliphage virus attacks coliform bacteria
and is used to test virus removal in
disinfection processes because it is a safe
surrogate for Enteric pathogenic virus such as
polio virus in surface water.
Protozoans
• A number of protozoans are pathogens. These
including a number of:
• Amoeba: Amoebiasis (Entamoeba histolytica)
• Ciliates: (Giardia), (Baltidium Coli)
• Flagelates: (Cryptosporidium)
Protozoans
• Protozoans are single celled or colonial
heterotrophs.
• One of their important functions in
Wastewater processes is their grazing on
bacteria like lions control deer.
• Identifying protozoans is extremely useful in
wastewater process control.
Amoeba Entamoeba Histolitica causes Amoebic
Dysenteria. Removal with sand filter and 10 ppm
chlorine. Forms cysts found in sludge heavier
than water. Move by distorting cytoplasm and
cell wall.
Flagelates: Zoo and phytoflagellates. Examples
Eugena which photosynthesize, zooflagelates
move with flagella.
Protozoans
Ciliates: move by way of cilia which are
organelles on their cell wall.
Example of a free swimming ciliate is the
Paramecium
Example of the stalked ciliate is the vorticella.
Example of a pathogen is Baltidium Coli and
Giardia.
Sequence of Growth
Protozoan Sequence of Growth
Protozoan forms
Stalked Ciliate
Protozoan Diseases
• the 1993 cryptosporidiosis outbreak in
Milwaukee that was linked to 104 deaths and
illnesses among an estimated 403,000 people.
Cryptosporidiosis is caused by the
Cryptosporidium parasite, which is found in
water contaminated by human or animal
feces.
Giardia
• Giardia lamblia is a flagellated Protozoan
parasite that colonizes and reproduces in the
small intestine, causing giardiasis. The giardia
parasite attaches to the epithelium
reproducing via binary fission. The Giardia
trophozoites absorb their nutrients from the
lumen of the small intestine, and are
anaerobes.
Giardia
• Giardia infects humans, but is also one of the
most common parasites infecting cats, dogs
and birds. Mammalian hosts also include
cows, beaver, dear, and sheep. The main
pathways of human infection include ingestion
of untreated sewage, and contamination of
natural waters also occurs in watersheds
where intensive cattle grazing occurs.
Giardia
• Giardia infection can occur through ingestion of
dormant cysts in contaminated water, food, or by the
faecal-oral route (through poor hygiene practices).
• The Giardia cyst can survive for weeks to months in
cold water, and can be present in contaminated wells
and water systems, especially stagnant water sources
such as naturally occurring ponds, storm water storage
systems, and even clean-looking mountain streams.
• They may also occur in city reservoirs and survive
water treatment, because Giardia cysts are resistant to
conventional water treatment methods such as
chlorination and ozonation.
Giardia lamblia
Giardia Life Cycle
Cryptosporidium parvum
The main pathways of human infection include ingestion of
untreated sewage.
C. parvum is considered to be the most important waterborne
pathogen in developed countries. It is resistant to all practical
levels of chlorination, surviving for 24hrs at 1000 mg/L free
chlorine. Filtration is necessary.
The contamination of natural waters also occurs in watersheds
where intensive cattle grazing occurs. Cryptosporidium is shed
in large numbers by young dairy calves which almost always
have the disease. Their manure washes off of fields and lots
thus entering the watershed.
• Cryptosporidium parvum is one of several
protozal species of cryptosporidium that cause
cryptosporidiosis, a parasitic disease of the
mammalian intestinal tract.
• Primary symptoms of C. parvum infection are
acute, watery, and non-bloody diarrhoea.
• C. parvum infection is ofserious concern in
immune compromised patients, where diarrhea
can reach 10–15L per day. Other symptoms may
include: anorexia, nausia, vomiting and
abdominal pain.
C. Parvum
• Infection is caused by ingestion of sporulated oocysts
transmitted by the fecal-oral route. In healthy human hosts,
the median infective dose is 132 oocysts.
• Cryptosporidium typically invades the apical tip of the ileal.
• Infection causes dehydration and other gastrointestinal
symptoms which are generally self-limiting in a healthy
host.
• Cryptosporidium can be fatal in immune incompetent
individuals including those with AIDS or those undergoing
immunosuppressive therapy where infection may leading
to severe dehydration and, in severe cases, death.
Cryptosporidium parvum
Balantidium coli (Balantidiasis)
• Balantidiasis is caused by a ciliate.
• Most Balantidial infections are asymptomatic or
characterized by intermittent diarrhea or constipation.
• Severe infections may cause abdominal pain, colonic
tenderness, fever, anorexia, and severe diarrhea. headache,
insomnia, nausea, vomiting, pallor, weakness, anemia,
dehydration, malaise, and distention.
• Stool specimens may be watery and contain blood, mucus,
and pus.
• Balantidia invade the bowel wall and cause ulcers that
resemble amebic ulcers. Immunocompromised
complications can be life threatening.
Entamoeba histolytica
• There are several different species of amoebae,
but the most dangerous, such as Entamoeba
histolytica, live predominantly in tropical areas.
• These species are able to burrow through the
intestinal wall and spread through the
bloodstream to infect other organs, such as the
liver, lungs and brain.
• Amoebic dysentery (amoebiasis) is an infection of
the intestine (gut) caused by an amoeba called
Entamoeba histolytica that, among other things,
can cause severe diarrhoea with blood.
Rotifers
Rotifers are multicellular animals that graze on
debris and protozoans. They have a forked tail
and are much larger than protozoans.
Rotifer
Rotifer
Parasitic worms
• Parasitic worms or helminths are a division of
eukaryotic parasites. They live in the digestive
tract of and feed off their living hosts,
receiving nourishment and protection while
disrupting their hosts‘ nutrient absorption,
causing weakness and disease. They can live
inside humans as well as other animals.
Approximately 3 billion people globally are
infected with helminths.
Intestinal Helminths
• Intestinal helminths represent one of the most prevalent
forms of parasitic disease. It is estimated that over a
quarter of the world’s population is infected with an
intestinal worm of some sort, with round worm, hookworm
and whipworm infecting 1.47 billion people, 1.05 billion
people, and 1.30 billion people, respectively. Furthermore,
the World Bank estimates that 100 million people may
experience stunting or wasting as a result of infection.
• It is estimated that 400 million, 170 million, and 300 million
children are infected with roundworm, hookworm, and
whipworm.[ Children may also be particularly susceptible to
the adverse effects of helminth infections due to their
incomplete physical development and their greater
immunological vulnerability.
The Helminth Family
• Parasitic worms are categorized into three
groups:
• Cestodes (tapeworms).
• Nematodes (roundworms). Like ascaris
• Trematodes (flukes).
Cestodes (tapeworms).
• Example is the pork tape worm Taenia solium
Tape worm
Life Cycle of Tape Worm
Beef Tapeworm
Trematodes
• Liver Fluke, Shistosomiasis, swimmers itch.
• Parasites of mollusks and vertebrates.
• Tissue Flukes of different varieties infect bile
ducts, lungs, liver (Fasciola hepatica) (Snail host).
• Blood flukes inhabit the blood in some stage of
their life cycle include species of the genus
Schistosoma. (Snail host).
• Human infections are most common in Asia
Africa, South America, or the Middle East. They
can be found anywhere that human waste is used
as fertilizer.
Nematode Round Worm
• Ascarias, dracunculiasis, elephantiasis, pinworm,
hookworm, onchocerciasis, trichinosis,
trichuriasis (Whip Worm)
• While the natural movement of worms and their
attachment to the intestine may be generally
uncomfortable for their hosts the migration of
Ascaris larvae through the respiratory
passageways can also lead to temporary asthma
and other respiratory symptoms.
Nematodes
The nematodes or roundworms are the most
diverse group of all animals over 28,000 have
been described,[of which over 16,000 are
parasitic It has been estimated that the total
number of nematode species might be
approximately 1,000,000.
Fungi
• Fungi are small non-chlorophyll bearing plant like
organisms. They are powerful decomposers and
recyclers of carbon and nutrients.
• Fungi share more in common with animals than
plants.
• Yeasts are important in brewing and bread
making.
• Filamentous fungi in wastewater play an
important roll and can be a problem for settling.
Fungi in composting
Fungi are powerful decomposers and break
down complex compounds like lignin phenolic
compounds, detergents, oil, fat and cellulose.
They possess powerful enzymes like protease,
lipase cellulase, lipase, and peroxidases.
Fungi are found as part of trickling filter slimes
on fixed film surfaces where they break down
recalcitrant compounds.
Fungi Aspergillus
Aspregillus fumagatus and nigra are black molds
that are found on windows and wet surfaces.
They are often found in association with
handling dry sludge or hay.
They present a breathing hazard. 1985 CWPCA
journal pg. 986 stated that they may cause
illness such as brown lung. A problem In
inclosed areas where sludge is being handled.
Algae
• Autotrophic containing chlorophyl allowing for
photosynthesis.
• Algae blooms stimulated by phosphorous in
excess of 0.17 mg/l in lakes or .2 mg/l in
streams. Phosphorous is the most limiting
factor for growth in fresh water while nitrogen
is in salt water environments. Other limiting
factors are light, iron, copper, nitrogen.
Algae Cycling cause Fish Kills.
• When algae blooms it cycles between
photosynthesis in the day and respiration at
night. This cycling raises daytime oxygen levels
to super-saturation. Because water can only
hold 8.6 mg/l O2 the rest goes into the air.
CO2 is consumed driving pH up to as high as
10. At night conditions reverse and respiration
depletes all oxygen and saturates water with
carbon dioxide driving pH down to below 5.
Algae Types
• Note Blue Green Algae is a Cyanobacteria. Motile
Green Algae is a flagellate.
• Real Algae Include:
• Green Algae like: Isochlorella and Spirogyra.
• Brown Algae make up the Diatoms. A
characteristic feature of diatom cells is that they
are encased within a unique cell wall made of
silica (hydrated silicon dioxide) called a frustule.
Used as diatomaceous earth in water filters.
Diatoms
Algae Control
• All algae are readily controlled by the elimination of
light and nutrients. One effective method is a blue dye
called Aqua Marine ShadowAcid Blue 9 is also known
as erioglaucine CAS 3844-45-9.
• Aqua Marine Shadow is available from
• F.E.T. Bioremediation Group
• 36 Cliffwood Pl.
• Santa Rosa, CA 95409
• U.S.A.
• 707.537-9886
• 925.457-4269 cell
Nitrogen Cycle
Nitrogen Cycle
Ponds