Synergistic Bacterial Inactivation by Silver Ions and Free Chlorine in Natural Waters
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 11
Abstract
Using high amounts of chlorine to disinfect contaminated natural waters for drinking purposes can produce an unpleasant taste and odor and contribute to the formation of toxic byproducts. These challenges can be addressed through the combined use of lower amounts of chlorine and silver. Several studies in well water or solutions inoculated with bacteria or viruses have demonstrated that this combination produces a synergistic effect in the inactivation of pathogens. This study investigated the synergistic inactivation of bacteria in natural waters (from a pond with 4.82 NTU and upstream with 11.9 NTU in Virginia) using low doses of silver (added as silver nitrate) and free chlorine (from Aquatabs). There was a significant synergistic effect at 3-h contact time, and the reductions of E. coli and total coliform bacteria (TCB) were and , respectively, with the lower-turbidity water, and 0.87 and 1.29, respectively, with the higher-turbidity water. Chlorine effectiveness was significantly reduced by higher turbidity, whereas silver effectiveness was not. Thus, for waters with higher turbidity, silver alone or a combination of low doses of silver and chlorine may produce a higher bacteria inactivation than chlorine alone. In addition, bacteria inactivation by the MadiDrop+ (MD, a commercial silver-ceramic tablet that releases silver ions for point-of-use water disinfection), with low doses of free chlorine in water from a stream in South Africa, was tested. The MD alone at 8-h contact time obtained reduction for E. coli and reduction for TCB. However, some of the MD-free chlorine combinations achieved a similar bacteria reduction with a substantial reduction of contact time (between 6 and 7 h less). Overall, these results show that the silver–chlorine synergistic effect demonstrated in previous studies with solutions inoculated with pathogens is also present in the more realistic scenario of natural waters that contain more complex matrices.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
We thank Kathy Nguyen for contributions to the experimental work. Furthermore, we thank University of Venda professors Joshua N. Edokpayi from the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, and Amidou Samie from the Department of Microbiology, who facilitated the experimental equipment and laboratories in South Africa. This study was supported in part by a 3 Cavaliers Research Initiation Award from the University of Virginia and the University of Virginia’s Center for Global Health and Equity. The sponsors had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, writing of the report, or the decision to submit this paper for publication. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors.
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© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 23, 2022
Accepted: May 17, 2022
Published online: Sep 10, 2022
Published in print: Nov 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Feb 10, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Bacteria
- Business management
- Chemical compounds
- Chemical elements
- Chemicals
- Chemistry
- Chlorine
- Environmental engineering
- Health hazards
- Pathogens
- Pollutants
- Pollution
- Practice and Profession
- Public administration
- Public health and safety
- River engineering
- Rivers and streams
- Sediment
- Turbidity
- Water and water resources
- Water pollution
- Water treatment
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- Jamie D. Harris, Lana M. J. Homola, Ana Estrella-You, James A. Smith, Enhancing Microbial Disinfection in Household Water Treatment by Combining a Silver–Ceramic Tablet with Copper and Chlorine Technologies, Journal of Environmental Engineering, 10.1061/JOEEDU.EEENG-7555, 150, 7, (2024).