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Occurrence of coliphages in urban stormwater and their fate in stormwater management systems
Author(s) -
Davies C.M.,
Yousefi Z.,
Bavor H.J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1046/j.1472-765x.2003.01396.x
Subject(s) - stormwater , inlet , environmental science , constructed wetland , coliphage , inflow , outflow , sediment , wetland , surface runoff , environmental engineering , hydrology (agriculture) , bacteriophage , sewage treatment , biology , ecology , geography , geology , escherichia coli , biochemistry , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , geomorphology , meteorology , gene
Aims: To investigate the occurrence of coliphages in, and their removal from, urban stormwater. Methods and Results: Inflow and outflow concentrations of somatic and f‐specific RNA coliphages to two stormwater treatment systems were determined on 21 occasions over a period of 5 months. Somatic coliphages were detected in 19 (90%) of the constructed wetland inlet samples, 13 (62%) of the pond inlet samples, and less frequently at the outlets of the two systems. F‐specific RNA coliphages were detected at the inlets but only occasionally at the pond outlet. Somatic coliphages were found to attach preferentially to particles <5 μ m in size and persisted in the sediments of the two systems. Conclusions: Treatment systems providing conditions that are conducive to the settlement of fine particles may effectively remove sediment‐bound coliphages and, therefore, possibly enteric viruses from stormwater. Significance and Impact of the Study: The results will aid the design of systems for effective removal of viral contaminants from urban stormwater.