Abstract
Escherichia coli photorepair and dark recovery was investigated in two different water sources. Sterilized drinking water and wastewater effluent treated for reuse were spiked with either wild E. coli isolate or a laboratory-purchased E. coli strain and ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated at fluences from 40 to . Although no threshold UV fluence was established after which E. coli photo and dark repair did not proceed, the extent of repair was generally low, not exceeding 0.5 log. Contrary to the repair results, the 48-h regrowth of E. coli disinfection survivors reached up to 3 log, likely due to the remaining inactivated E. coli cells that served as a source of biodegradable carbon postdisinfection. Although it is proposed that concerns regarding bacterial repair under drinking and reuse water UV disinfection conditions are overestimated based on experiments at low UV fluences, the long-term postdisinfection safety of water may be underestimated for conditions of low or no disinfection residual, or where nutrients are present, and regrowth could occur.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 6 • June 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 12, 2014
Accepted: Oct 21, 2014
Published online: Dec 4, 2014
Discussion open until: May 4, 2015
Published in print: Jun 1, 2015
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Bacteria
- Business management
- Chemical processes
- Chemistry
- Drinking water treatment
- Effluents
- Environmental engineering
- Health hazards
- Material mechanics
- Materials engineering
- Pollutants
- Practice and Profession
- Public administration
- Public health and safety
- Radiation
- Strain
- Ultraviolet radiation
- Wastewater management
- Wastewater treatment
- Water (by type)
- Water and water resources
- Water management
- Water treatment
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