Removal of pathogenic bacteria from sewage-treated effluent and biosolids for agricultural purposes

Abstract

The reuse of treated sewage for irrigation is considered as an important alternative water source in the new water management strategy of the countries that face a severe deficiency of water resources such as the Middle East countries. The organic material and fertilizing elements contained in biosolids are essential for maintaining soil fertility. However, both treated sewage and biosolids contain a large diversity of pathogens that would be transmitted to the environment and infect human directly or indirectly. Therefore, those pathogens should be reduced from the treated sewage and biosolids before the reuse in the agriculture. This paper reviews the considerations for reuse of treated sewage and biosolids in agriculture and further treatments used for reduction of pathogenic bacteria. The treatment methods used for the reduction of pathogens in these wastes have reviewed. It appeared that the main concern associated with the reduction of pathogenic bacteria lies in their ability to regrow in the treated sewage and biosolids. Therefore, the effective treatment method is that it has the potential to destruct pathogens cells and remove the nutrients to prevent the regrowth or recontamination from the surrounded environment. The removal of nutrients might be applicable in the sewage but not in the biosolids due to high nutrient contents. However, the reduction of health risk in the biosolids might be carried out by regulating the biosolid utilization and selecting the plant species grown in the fertilized soil with biosolids.

Prevalence of Colistin-Resistant, Carbapenem-Hydrolyzing Proteobacteria in Hospital Water Bodies and Out-Falls of West Bengal, India

“…In spite of that, reports on the presence of MDR pathogens in hospital wastewater has been published by a number of countries [14,36,37], and there are a few reports from India as well [19,20]. Further, persistence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in treated sewage water is also increasingly being reported because of the increase in pathogen loads within expanding communities and cities [38]. Thus, it has become imperative to understand and monitor antibiotic concentrations and pathogen loads in hospital sewage for appropriate water treatment before it is released to the environment or used for irrigation.…”

Biosolids: What are the different types of reuse?

“…Also in this case, biological SS needs to be treated by processes which included biological (aerobic or anaerobic), thermal and/or chemical stabilization (e.g. with lime) in order to convert it into BS which met standards required for agricultural reuse (Al-Gheethi et al, 2018a). Indeed, high stabilization and reduction of the pathogen level represents essential requirements for land application (Al-Gheethi et al, 2018b;Ashekuzzaman et al, 2019).…”

Diversity of arthropods on Acacia mangium (Fabaceae) and production of this plant with dehydrated sewage sludge in degraded area

“…Sewage sludge can be re-used as fertilizer in forest plantations, degraded area under recovery process and in agriculture, reducing production costs and environmental risks [4][5][6]. The quality of dried and pasteurized sewage sludge is classified as class A by the USA [7]. A treated sewage sludge from the 'Estação de Tratamento de Esgoto (ETE)' in the municipality of Juramento, Minas Gerais State, Brazil had no helminth eggs and protozoan cysts, and did not increase the heavy metal contents in grains of maize, Zea mays L. (Poales: Poaceae), and cowpea, Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.…”