KWRRI Research Reports

Abstract

Post-chlorinated effluent collected with a portable viral concentrator from four treatment plants in Jefferson County, Kentucky, yielded infective viral particles from three plants from spring through late fall. The pH, ,chlorine, turbidity, and coliform levels of these effluents indicated that viral persistence was correlated with inefficient processing which produced effluent environments that inhibited disinfection by chlorine. The disinfection potential of ozone was tested on secondary effluent and finished water seeded with poliovirus and Esaheriahia coli. Low doses of ozone inactivated viruses and bacteria in treated water, but not in effluent. The inactivation of bacteria by ozone does not appear to be caused by cell lysis. Inability of poliovirus to form plaques correlated with inhibition of capsid penetration. Electron micrographs revealed that ozone degrades capsids. Ozonation produced low levels of COD and TOC reduction in package plant effluent. Since the reaction rates were not a simple function of COD levels and ozone dose it would be difficult to standardize dose rates. The relative inefficiency of ozone in reduction of biological and non-biological pollutants in effluents, combined with its high cost, does not favor a recommendation for ozonation as a tack-on process to upgrade these plants.

Publication Date

11-1976

Report Number

98

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/kwrri.rr.98

Funding Information

The work on which this report is based was supported in part by funds provided by the Office of Water Research and Technology, United States Department of the Interior, as authorized under the Water Resources Research Act of 1964.

The Kentucky Department of Human Resources provided auxiliary funds which made it possible to obtain the Virus Concentrator, and their assistance is gratefully acknowledged.

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