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Selective elimination of bacterial faecal indicators in the Schmutzdecke of slow sand filtration columns

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Slow sand filtration (SSF) is an effective low-tech water treatment method for pathogen and particle removal. Yet despite its application for centuries, it has been uncertain to which extent pathogenic microbes are removed by mechanical filtration or due to ecological interactions such as grazing and competition for nutrients. In this study, we quantified the removal of bacterial faecal indicators, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis, from secondary effluent of a wastewater treatment plant and analysed the microbial community composition in compartments of laboratory model SSF columns. The columns were packed with different sand grain sizes and eliminated 1.6–2.3 log units of faecal indicators, which translated into effluents of bathing water quality according to the EU directive (<500 colony forming units of E. coli per 100 ml) for columns with small grain size. Most of that removal occurred in the upper filter area, the Schmutzdecke. Within that same zone, total bacterial numbers increased however, thus suggesting a specific elimination of the faecal indicators. The analysis of the microbial communities also revealed that some taxa were removed more from the wastewater than others. These results accentuate the contribution of biological mechanisms to water purification in SSF.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the great technical support of Ute Kuhlicke and Michaela Blank. Furthermore, we would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for critically reading the manuscript and suggesting many improvements.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Compliance with ethical standards

ᅟ

Funding

This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF; Grant: 02WM0847), the Foundation of German Business (sdw), the European Commission (Grant Agreement No: FP7-KBBE-2012-6-311933, WATER4CROPS) and the Helmholtz Association.

Human and animal rights and informed consent

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Author notes

  1. Giovanni Pilloni

    Present address: ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, 1545 Route 22 East, Annandale, NJ, 08801, USA

  2. Rainer U. Meckenstock

    Present address: Universität Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen—Biofilm Centre—Universitätsstr. 5, 45141, Essen, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helmholtz Zentrum München—German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Groundwater Ecology, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, Neuherberg, Germany

    Kristina R. Pfannes, Giovanni Pilloni, Torben Stührmann, Kathrin Euringer, Tillmann Lueders & Rainer U. Meckenstock

  2. Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Kilian M. W. Langenbach, Jochen A. Müller & Matthias Kästner

  3. Department of River Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Brückstr 3A, 39114, Magdeburg, Germany

    Thomas R. Neu

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Correspondence to Jochen A. Müller.

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Pfannes, K.R., Langenbach, K.M.W., Pilloni, G. et al. Selective elimination of bacterial faecal indicators in the Schmutzdecke of slow sand filtration columns. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 10323–10332 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6882-9

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