Actinomycetes, cyanobacteria and algae causing tastes and odours in water of the River Arno used for the water supply of Florence

Contribution of Streptomyces in sediment to earthy odor in the overlying water in Xionghe Reservoir, China

“…Temperature was negatively correlated (r ¼ À0.425, p < 0.05) with concentrations of geosmin in the sediments, a finding that differs from that reported previously (Robertson et al, 2006). Lanciotti et al (2003) reported that the presence of geosmin appears to be attributed mainly to actinomycetes alone or is associated with algae in autumn and winter in the River Arno, Italy. In the present study, the redox potentials for all three sampling sites were negative; the mean values for sites A, B, and C being À233.9, À214.1, and À172.9 mV, respectively.…”

“…Actinomycetes in water bodies are often considered to be transported from the terrestrial environment by runoff (Zaitlin et al, 2003;Jensen et al, 1994). Some studies have shown that actinomycetes are associated with the occurrence of odor in water (Lanciotti et al, 2003;Jensen et al, 1994). Many of the actinomycetes examined were indeed isolated from sediments (Tung et al, 2006;Zaitlin et al, 2003).…”

Study of Geosmin and 2-Methylisoborneol (MIB) Producers in Phayao Lake, Thailand

“…High concentrations of geosmin in lake water were recorded in certain sampling points from several collection periods (S4 in June 2012; S1-6 in September 2012 and; S4-6 in November 2012) particularly at S1-6 (up to 3.74 µgL -1 ) and MIB at S4 (0.086 µgL -1 ) in September 2012 in the lake despite low abundance of potential odour-producing cyanobacteria during these periods. During periods with a low cyanobacterial biomass, the source of geosmin and MIB has been suggested to be actinomycetes rather than cyanobacteria [17].…”

Source-water odor during winter in the Yellow River area of China: Occurrence and diagnosis

“…Up to now, Cyanobacteria are the only known producers of 2-MIB and geosmin among algae (Watson, 2010). Actinomycetes, which can grow in autumn and winter (Lanciotti et al, 2003), might be responsible for the production of these earthy/musty odor causing compounds. Actinomycetes might also enter freshwater systems via terrestrial runoff, and subsequently cause T/O outbreaks in drinking water (Zaitlin et al, 2003).…”

“…The origins of T/O problems in drinking water are often found in source waters (Izaguirre et al, 1999). The occurrence of T/O episodes is often associated with eutrophic waters during summer or early autumn (Watson, 2003;Li et al, 2010;Ma et al, 2013), such as the well documented earthy/musty odor caused by two algal-derived terpenoids (2-MIB and geosmin) that originate from typical Cyanobacteria (Watson et al, 2000;Lin et al, 2002;Li et al, 2010;Sun et al, 2013) or Actinomycetes (Lanciotti et al, 2003). However, fishy/rancid/oily odors have been increasingly reported in some meso-oligotrophic systems during early spring and winter, even with ice-cover present (Burlingame et al, 1992;Naumenko, 1992;Watson et al, 2001).…”