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Quantitative microbial risk assessment with nasal/oral breathing pattern for S. aureus bioaerosol emission from aeration tanks and residual sludge storage yard in a wastewater treatment plant

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Abstract

A large number of pathogenic bioaerosols are generated during the treatment process of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and they can pose potential risks to human health. Therefore, this study systematically analyzed the emission characteristics of Staphylococcus aureus bioaerosols released from an inverted umbrella aeration tank, a microporous aeration tank, and a residual sludge storage yard in a WWTP, and quantitatively evaluated the health risks of four kinds of exposed populations with nasal/oral breathing patterns under optimistic and conservative estimations. The results displayed that the bioaerosol concentration in inverted umbrella aeration tank was higher than that in microporous aeration tank and residual sludge storage yard. Aerosolization ratio in residual sludge storage yard was an order of magnitude lower than that in aeration tanks. Sludge workers were at higher health risks than the other three exposed populations. The health risks of nasal breathers (infection risk: 1.62 × 10−5–2.56 × 10−3 pppy; disease burden: 4.24 × 10−8–6.72 × 10−6 DALYs pppy) were 0.61–0.63 times higher than those of oral breathers (infection risk: 9.95 × 10−6–1.59 × 10−3 pppy; disease burden: 2.61 × 10−8–4.18 × 10−6 DALYs pppy). For female field engineers using oral breathing, laboratory technicians, and researchers without personal protective equipment (PPE), infection risk and disease burden had the opposite results, which indicated that satisfying one certain benchmark did not mean absolute safety. In addition, health risks of exposed populations were reduced by an order of magnitude after wearing PPE. This study can provide a reliable theoretical basis for the risk prevention of bioaerosols and supply data support for the strategies of health risk control perspectives for local sewage utilities.

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Acknowledgements

This study was sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51608497), Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) (CUGGC07).

Funding

We declare that the sources of funding for this research include the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan). The funding bodies only provide financial support in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, 388 Lumo Road, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Cheng Yan, Xiao-yan Zhao & Wajid Ali

  2. Hubei Key Laboratory of Environmental Water Science in the Yangtze River Basin, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, People’s Republic of China

    Cheng Yan

  3. Yangtze Ecology and Environment Co., Ltd., Wuhan, 430062, People’s Republic of China

    Xi Luo

  4. China Construction Eco-Environmental Group Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100037, People’s Republic of China

    Dong-zi An

  5. POWERCHINA Hubei Electric Engineering Co., Ltd., Wuhan, 430040, People’s Republic of China

    Hao Zhu, Ming Li & Xiao-jun Ai

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Contributions

Cheng Yan: conceptualization; data curation; writing—original draft; writing—review and editing; visualization; software; investigation; funding acquisition; resources. Xiao-yan Zhao: conceptualization; data curation; writing—original draft; writing—review and editing; visualization. Xi Luo: methodology, writing—review and editing. Dong-zi An: project administration, supervision and validation, writing—review and editing. Hao Zhu: supervision and validation, writing—review and editing. Ming Li: supervision and validation, writing—review and editing. Xiao-Jun Ai: supervision and validation, writing—review and editing. Wajid Ali: validation, writing—review and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Yan, C., Zhao, Xy., Luo, X. et al. Quantitative microbial risk assessment with nasal/oral breathing pattern for S. aureus bioaerosol emission from aeration tanks and residual sludge storage yard in a wastewater treatment plant. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 21252–21262 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23621-5

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