A dairy farm, sewage plant, and backwash water were among sources of protozoa in the raw water treated by the Pittsburgh, Pa., water utility. Giardia and Cryptosporidium were monitored monthly for two years to determine their occurrence in the Allegheny and Youghiogheny rivers, their source, and the efficiency of their removal by the Pittsburgh Drinking Water Treatment Plant. Sources investigated included a dairy farm stream, treated effluent from a sewage plant, and several samples from combined sewer overflows, all of which regularly contribute parasites to rivers. Raw, settled, filtered, and filter backwash waters were also sampled. Clarification and filtration generally control passage of protozoa into the drinking water, but small numbers of Cryptosporidium occasionally pass through even in the absence of treatment difficulties. Cysts and oocysts are also reintroduced into the drinking water plant via recycling of backwash water.

To determine the fate of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts during wastewater treatment, a model of an activated sludge treatment plant was designed with a flow of 17 ml/min and a detention time of 6 hours. Samples of raw sewage were seeded with oocysts and primary and secondary effluents were analyzed for C. parvum using an immunofluorescent technique. To compare removal efficiencies of oocysts by various wastewater treatment processes, raw sewage, activated sludge, trickling filter and biodisc effluents were seeded with oocysts and settled for 2 hr and for the respective detention times. Sludge produced by a wastewater treatment plant and anaerobically digested at 37° C in a laboratory digester was also seeded with C. parvum oocysts. Oocyst inactivation was measured by excystation and direct counts. Removal of oocysts in primary and secondary sedimentation averaged 83.4% and 90.7% respectively. The total oocyst removal in sewage treatment averaged 98.6%. In comparison with other treatment processes, activated sludge had the maximum oocyst removal efficiency at 92%. The anaerobic digestion process inactivated 90% of the oocysts within four hours of exposure. 99.9% of the oocysts were eliminated by anaerobic digestion after 24 hours. This demonstrates that the activated sludge process and anaerobic digestion can be effective for the removal and inactivation of C. parvum oocysts.

Throughout the past several years there has been an increasing concern to reduce the pollutants within urban stormwater discharges, particularly combined sewer overflows (CSOs). The majority of the research on CSOs has focused on physical, chemical, and some biological components. This preliminary study investigated the occurrence of two pathogenic protozoa, Cryptosporidium and Giardia, in an urban stream during dry weather compared to their occurrence in a combined sewer overflow (CSO) end-of-pipe discharge to determine the loading potential and the potential human health impacts. Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts were commonly observed in the urban stream during dry weather conditions, with concentrations of 5-105 oocysts/100L and 13-6,579 cysts/100L respectively. The CSO end-of-pipe samples during wet weather conditions discharged Cryptosporidium and Giardia at high levels, 250-40,000 oocysts/100L and 9,000-283,000 cysts/100L respectively. This preliminary study suggests that CSOs may significantly contribute to the load of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in ambient waters and source waters utilized for recreational use and potable water. However, further investigation will be needed to determine and characterize the full effect of this apparent loading source.

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