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Disinfection and removal of human pathogenic bacteria in arctic waste stabilization ponds

  • Water, sanitation, pollution and health in the Arctic
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Abstract

Wastewater stabilization ponds (WSPs) are commonly used to treat municipal wastewater in Arctic Canada. The biological treatment in the WSPs is strongly influenced by climatic conditions. Currently, there is limited information about the removal of fecal and pathogenic bacteria during the short cool summer treatment season. With relevance to public health, the objectives of this paper were to determine if treatment in arctic WSPs resulted in the disinfection (i.e., removal of fecal indicator bacteria, Escherichia coli) and removal of selected human bacterial pathogens from the treated effluent. The treatment performance, with focus on microbial removal, was assessed for the one-cell WSP in Pond Inlet (Nunavut [NU]) and two-cell WSP in Clyde River (NU) over three consecutive (2012–2014) summer treatment seasons (late June-early September). The WSPs provided a primary disinfection treatment of the wastewater with a 2–3 Log removal of generic indicator E. coli. The bacterial pathogens Salmonella spp., pathogenic E. coli, and Listeria monocytogenes, but not Campylobacter spp. and Helicobacter pylori, were detected in the untreated and treated wastewater, indicating that human pathogens were not reliably removed. Seasonal and annual variations in temperature significantly (p < 0.05) affected the disinfection efficiency. Improved disinfection and pathogen removal was observed for the two-cell system in Clyde River as compared to the one-cell system in Pond Inlet. A quantitative microbial risk assessment should be performed to determine if the release of low levels of human pathogens into the arctic environment poses a human health risk.

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Acknowledgements

Funding from the Government of Nunavut, Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Systems Training and Education in Water Assets Research and Development (STEWARD), and the Canadian Water Network is gratefully acknowledged. Also, our team would like to extend our gratitude to the people in Pond Inlet and Clyde River. The gratitude also goes to the Nunavut Research Institute for providing laboratory space in Iqaluit. Finally, our team members (Amy Jackson, Emma Stea, Emmalina Corriveau, Erin Mentink, Greg Piorkowski, Jessica LeNoble, Joanna Poltarowicz, Justine Lywood, Kiley Daley, Mark Greenwood, Meggie Letman) are sincerely thanked for their help in both laboratory and field work. The funding agencies were not involved in conducting the research or preparing this paper.

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  1. Lisbeth Truelstrup Hansen

    Present address: National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Water Resources Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada

    Yannan Huang, Lisbeth Truelstrup Hansen, Colin M. Ragush & Rob C. Jamieson

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  1. Yannan Huang
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Correspondence to Lisbeth Truelstrup Hansen.

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Huang, Y., Truelstrup Hansen, L., Ragush, C.M. et al. Disinfection and removal of human pathogenic bacteria in arctic waste stabilization ponds. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 32881–32893 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8816-9

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