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Hurricane Katrina, rated as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast near New Orleans, Louisiana on Monday, August 29, 2005. The storm brought heavy winds and rain to the city, and several levees intended to protect New Orleans from the water of Lake Pontchartrain were breached. Consequently, up to 80% of the city was flooded with water reaching depths in excess of three meters in some locations. Research described in this paper was conducted to provide an initial assessment of contaminants present in floodwaters shortly after the storm and to characterize water pumped out of the city into Lake Pontchartrain once dewatering operations began several days after the storm. Data are presented which demonstrate that during the weeks following the storm, floodwater was brackish and well-buffered with very low concentrations of volatile and semivolatile organic pollutants. Dissolved oxygen was depleted in surface floodwater, averaging 1.6 mg/L in the Lakeview district and 4.8 mg/L in the Mid-City district. Dissolved oxygen was absent (< 0.02 mg/L) at the bottom of the floodwater column in the Mid-City district 9 days afterthe storm. Chemical oxygen demand (Mid-City average = 79.9 mg/L) and fecal coliform bacteria (Mid-City average = 1.4 x 10(5) MPN/100 mL) were elevated in surface floodwater but typical of stormwater runoff in the region. Lead, arsenic, and in some cases, chromium, exceeded drinking water standards but with the exception of some elevated Pb concentrations generally were typical of stormwater. Data suggest that what distinguishes Hurricane Katrina floodwater is the large volume and the human exposure to these pollutants that accompanied the flood, rather than very elevated concentrations of toxic pollutants.

Two strictly anaerobic bacterial strains were isolated from contaminated groundwater at a Superfund site located near Baton Rouge, LA, USA. These strains represent the first isolates reported to reductively dehalogenate 1,2,3-trichloropropane. Allyl chloride (3-chloro-1-propene), which is chemically unstable, was produced from 1,2,3-trichloropropane, and it was hydrolysed abiotically to allyl alcohol and also reacted with the sulfide- and cysteine-reducing agents in the medium to form various allyl sulfides. Both isolates also dehalogenated a variety of other vicinally chlorinated alkanes (1,2-dichloropropane, 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,1,2-trichloroethane, 1,1,2,2- tetrachloroethane) via dichloroelimination reactions. A quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) approach targeting 16S rRNA genes indicated that both strains couple reductive dechlorination to cell growth. Growth was not observed in the absence of hydrogen (H2) as an electron donor and a polychlorinated alkane as an electron acceptor. Alkanes containing only a single chlorine substituent (1-chloropropane, 2-chloropropane), chlorinated alkenes (tetrachlorothene, trichlorothene, cisdichloroethene, trans-dichloroethene, vinyl chloride) and chlorinated benzenes (1-chlorobenzene and 1,2- dichlorobenzene) were not dechlorinated. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence data showed these isolates to represent a new lineage within the Chloroflexi. Their closest previously cultured relatives are 'Dehalococcoides' strains, with 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of only 90%.

Two strictly anaerobic bacterial strains, designated IP3-3 T and SBP-1, were isolated from groundwater contaminated by chlorinated alkanes and alkenes at a Superfund Site located near Baton Rouge, Louisiana (USA). Both strains reductively dehalogenate a variety of polychlorinated aliphatic alkanes, including 1,2-dichloroethane, 1,2-dichloropropane, 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, 1,1,2-trichloroethane and 1,2,3-trichloropropane, when provided with hydrogen as the electron donor. To clarify their taxonomic position, strains IP3-3 T and SBP-1 were characterized using a polyphasic approach. Both IP3-3 T and SBP-1 are mesophilic, non-spore-forming, non-motile and Gram-stain-negative. Cells of both strains are irregular cocci with diameters of 0.4-1.1 mm. Both are resistant to ampicillin and vancomycin. The genomic DNA G+C contents of strains IP3-3 T and SBP-1 are 55.5±0.4 and 56.2±0.2 mol% (HPLC), respectively. Major cellular fatty acids include C 18 : 1 v9c, C 16 : 0 , C 14 : 0 and C 16 : 1 v9c. 16S rRNA gene sequence based phylogenetic analyses indicated that the strains cluster within the phylum Chloroflexi most closely related to but distinct from the species Dehalogenimonas lykanthroporepellens (96.2 % pairwise similarity) and Dehalococcoides mccartyi (90.6 % pairwise similarity). Physiological and chemotaxonomic traits as well as phylogenetic analysis support the conclusion that these strains represent a novel species within the genus Dehalogenimonas for which the name Dehalogenimonas alkenigignens sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is IP3-3 T (5JCM 17062 T 5NRRL B-59545 T ).

Dehalogenimonas lykanthroporepellens is the type species of the genus Dehalogenimonas, which belongs to a deeply branching lineage within the phylum Chloroflexi. This strictly anaerobic, mesophilic, non spore-forming, Gram-negative staining bacterium was first isolated from chlorinated solvent contaminated groundwater at a Superfund site located near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. D. lykanthroporepellens was of interest for genome sequencing for two reasons: (a) an unusual ability to couple growth with reductive dechlorination of environmentally important polychlorinated aliphatic alkanes and (b) a phylogenetic position that is distant from previously sequenced bacteria. The 1,686,510 bp circular chromosome of strain BL-DC-9T contains 1,720 predicted protein coding genes, 47 tRNA genes, a single large subunit rRNA (23S-5S) locus, and a single, orphan, small subunit rRNA (16S) locus.

Bacterial concentration and diversity was assessed in a moderately acidic (pH 5.1) anaerobic groundwater contaminated by chlorosolvent-containing DNAPL at a Superfund site located near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Groundwater analysis revealed a total aqueous-phase chlorosolvent concentration exceeding 1000 mg L(-1), including chloroethanes, vinyl chloride, 1,2-dichloropropane, and hexachloro-1,3-butadiene as the primary contaminants. Direct counting of stained cells revealed more than 3 x 10(7) cells mL(-1) in the groundwater, with 58% intact and potentially viable. Universal and 'Dehalococcoides'-specific 16S rRNA gene libraries were created and analyzed. Universal clones were grouped into 18 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), which were dominated by low-G+C Gram-positive bacteria (62%) and included several as yet uncultured or undescribed organisms. Several unique 16S rRNA gene sequences closely related to Dehalococcoides ethenogenes were detected. Anaerobically grown isolates (168 in total) were also sequenced. These were phylogenetically grouped into 18 OTUs, of which only three were represented in the clone library. Phylogenetic analysis of isolates and the clone sequences revealed close relationships with dechlorinators, fermenters, and hydrogen producers. Despite acidic conditions and saturation or near-saturation chlorosolvent concentrations, the data presented here demonstrate that large numbers of novel bacteria are present in groundwater within the DNAPL source zone, and the population appears to contain bacterial components necessary to carry out reductive dechlorination.

Studies were conducted to evaluate use of granular activated carbon (GAC) as a passively operated load-equalization mechanism for biofilters treating gas streams with dynamically varying (intermittent) pollutant loading. In the initial stage of research, abiotic fixed-bed sorption experiments and numerical modeling were conducted to assess the degree of load-equalization achieved by GAC columns for air flows containing intermittent loading of acetone and toluene present as single-component contaminants and as a mixture. In the subsequent stage of research, an integrated system consisting of a GAC column in series before a biofilter was used to treat a gas stream containing a mixture of acetone and toluene at influent concentrations of 430 ppm(v) and 100 ppm(v) respectively. To simulate loading conditions expected from an industrial process with intermittent operation, contaminated air was supplied 8 h/day and uncontaminated air was supplied 16 h/day. The system was operated with different empty bed contact times, as low as 2.5 s for the GAC column and 14.5 s for the biofilter. Performance of an additional, conventionally operated biofilter (i.e., without GAC load equalization system) was used as a basis of comparison. Data are presented which clearly demonstrate that passively operated GAC load-dampening systems installed in series before biofilters can lead to more uniform loading as a function of time and thereby improve biofilter treatment performance. Results also demonstrate that, because of competitive sorption, the degree of load equalization achieved for different constituents in multi-contaminant gas streams can vary markedly. A pore and surface diffusion model (PSDM) was able to accurately predict the degree of load-dampening achieved by GAC columns for single and multicomponent waste gases.

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