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Organic pollution continues to contaminate river water and degrade aquatic ecosystems worldwide. In heavily modified river systems with high organic loading, sewage fungus, a heterotrophic biofilm, can form on the riverbed. The aim of this study was to determine how the polybacterial community of riverbed biofilms changes prior to and during a sewage fungus outbreak to inform the development of novel biomonitoring approaches. Riverbed biofilm samples were collected from a site that experienced sewage fungus outbreaks previously and an upstream control, following a BACI design. The polybacterial community was characterized using targeted amplicon sequencing (16s rRNA). The results indicate that the community became dominated by two genera prior to and during the sewage fungus outbreak, Rhodoferax and Sphaerotilus, which accounted for 32.8 and 14.2% of the relative abundance. When aggregated at a higher taxonomic level, the genetic data show that the community was comprised largely of bacteria from a single family, Comamonadaceae, totalling 64.1% of the relative abundance. Statistically significant differences in the polybacterial community over time and between impact and control sites provide initial evidence that genetic-based fingerprinting could be a promising biosentinel approach to identify organic pollution inputs and monitor their ecological impact.

Most commercial swimming pools use pressurised filters, typically containing sand media, to remove suspended solids as part of the water treatment process designed to keep water attractive, clean and safe. The accidental release of faecal material by bathers presents a poorly quantified risk to the safety of swimmers using the pool. The water treatment process usually includes a combination of maintaining a residual concentration of an appropriate biocide in the pool together with filtration to physically remove particles, including microbial pathogens, from the water. However, there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of treatment processes in removing all pathogens, and there has been growing concern about the number of reported outbreaks of the gastrointestinal disease cryptosporidiosis, caused by the chlorine-resistant protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium. A number of interacting issues influence the effectiveness of filtration for the removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts from swimming pools. This review explains the mechanisms by which filters remove particles of different sizes (including oocyst-sized particles, typically 4–6 μm), factors that affect the efficiency of particle removal (such as filtration velocity), current recommended management practices, and identifies further work to support the development of a risk-based management approach for the management of waterborne disease outbreaks from swimming pools. This article has been made Open Access thanks to the generous support of a global network of libraries as part of the Knowledge Unlatched Select initiative.

The impact of organic loading rate (OLR) on carbonaceous materials and ammonia removal was assessed in bench scale rotating media biofilm reactors treating real wastewater. Media composition influences biofilm structure and therefore performance. Here, plastic mesh, reticulated coarse foam and fine foam media were operated concurrently at OLRs of 15, 35 and 60 g sCOD m(-2)d(-1) in three bench scale shaft mounted advanced reactor technology (SMART) reactors. The sCOD removal rate increased with loading from 6 to 25 g sCOD m(-2)d(-1) (P0.001). At 35 g BOD5m(-2)d(-1), more than double the arbitrary OLR limit of normal nitrifying conditions (15 g BOD5m(-2)d(-1)); the removal efficiency of NH(4)-N was 82 ± 5, 27 ± 19 and 39 ± 8% for the mesh, coarse foam and fine foam media, respectively. Increasing the OLR to 35 gm(-2)d(-1) decreased NH(4)-N removal efficiency to 38 ± 6, 21 ± 4 and 21 ± 6%, respectively. The mesh media achieved the highest stable NH(4)(+)-N removal rate of 6.5 ± 1.6 gm(-2)d(-1) at a sCOD loading of 35 g sCOD m(-2)d(-1). Viable bacterial numbers decreased with increasing OLR from 2 × 10(10)-4 × 10(9) cells per ml of biofilm from the low to high loading, suggesting an accumulation of inert non-viable biomass with higher OLR. Increasing the OLR in permeable media is of practical benefit for high rate carbonaceous materials and ammonia removal in the pretreatment of wastewater.