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Fate of Wastewater Constituents in Soil and Groundwater: Pathogens
Published in G. Stuart Pettygrove, Takashi Asano, Irrigation With Reclaimed Municipal Wastewater–A Guidance Manual, 1985
The survival rates of pathogenic bacteria in soil normally vary from one day to several months. Many factors affect the survival of enteri c bacteria in soil. Increased soil moisture content, cool er temperatures, and higher organic matter content tend to favor l anger survival, but extremely acidic or alkaline conditions, sunlight, and antagonistic microflora are opposing factors to survival. Protozoa and helminths appear to survive as long as enteric bacteria in soil, although ascaris ova may remain viable much longer. Depending on the nature of the soil, temperature, pH, and moisture content, enterovirus survival has been reported to vary from 25 to 170 days. Virus inactivation is promoted by dissaggregation of viral clumps, presence of chloride salts, high temperature and pH, and virucidal chemical species such as ammonia. Suspended organic matter in wastewater (virus-solid association) is believed to have some protective effect on virus survival.
Pathogen contamination of groundwater systems and health risks
Published in Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 2023
Yiran Dong, Zhou Jiang, Yidan Hu, Yongguang Jiang, Lei Tong, Ying Yu, Jianmei Cheng, Yu He, Jianbo Shi, Yanxin Wang
Compared with pathogenic bacteria and protozoa, viruses exhibit the physiological and etiological features that make them a greater threat to groundwater safety. Small size (0.02–0.2 mm), high titers excreted in the feces (105–1011/g stool), low infectious doses (i.e., from <1 to more than 1000 plaque-forming units (PFUs)) and highly variable lethality of enteric viruses facilitate their migration and increase the risks of waterborne diseases (Table S2 and the references therein). While viral pathogens can cause a variety of illnesses, acute gastrointestinal illness is most commonly reported (Table S2). Enteric viruses primarily infect hosts in the intestinal tract, causing stomach or intestine inflammations, infectious diarrhea, fever, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain, dehydration, or weight loss. Other diseases such as polio-like illness, aseptic meningitis, epidemic conjunctivitis, and hand, foot, and mouth have been reported for Enterovirus-infected patients. Infection by Hepatitis A and E viruses can lead to fever, nausea, jaundice, and liver failure (Krauss and Griebler, 2011) (Table S2).