Direct evidence of microbiological water quality changes on bacterial quantity and community caused by plumbing system

Direct evidence of microbiological water quality changes on bacterial quantity and community caused by plumbing system

Li, Jun (Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Ren, Anran (Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)
van der Mark, Ed (Dunea)
Liu, G. (TU Delft Sanitary Engineering; Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences)

2022

Drinking water quality deteriorates from treatment plant to customer taps, especially in the plumbing system. There is no direct evidence about what the differences are contributed by plumbing system. This study compared the water quality in the water main and at customer tap by preparing a sampling tap on the water main. The biomass was quantified by adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and the microbial community was profiled by 454 pyrosequencing. The results showed that in distribution pipes, biofilm contributed >94% of the total biomass, while loose deposits showed little contribution (< 2%) because of the low amount of loose deposits. The distribution of biological stable water had minor effects on the microbiocidal water quality regarding both quantity (ATP 1 ng/L vs. 1.7 ng/L) and community of the bacteria. Whereas the plumbing system has significant contribution to the increase of active biomass (1.7 ng/L vs. 2.9 ng/L) and the changes of bacterial community. The relative abundance of Sphingomonas spp. at tap (22%) was higher than that at water main (2%), while the relative abundance of Pseudomonas spp. in tap water (15%) was lower than that in the water from street water main (29%). Though only one location was prepared and studied, the present study showed that the protocol of making sampling tap on water main offered directly evidences about the impacts of plumbing system on tap water quality, which makes it possible to distinguish and study the processes in distribution system and plumbing system separately.

454 pyrosequencing
Drinking water distribution system
Microbiological water quality
Plumbing system
Sampling program

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:0f03c65c-908e-4902-a14b-3ddfb83a17f2

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2021.04.028

1001-0742

Journal of Environmental Sciences, 116, 175-183

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2022 Jun Li, Anran Ren, Ed van der Mark, G. Liu