title: Direct ultrafiltration performance and membrane integrity monitoring by microbiological analysis.
abstract: The feasibility of substituting a conventional pre-treatment, consisting of dioxi-chlorination, coagulation/flocculation, settling and sand filtration, of a drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) by direct ultrafiltration (UF) has been assessed from a microbiological standpoint. Bacterial indicators, viral indicators and human viruses have been monitored in raw river, ultrafiltered and conventionally pre-treated water samples during two years. Direct UF has proven to remove bacterial indicators quite efficiently and to a greater extent than the conventional process does. Nevertheless, the removal of small viruses such as some small bacteriophages and human viruses (e.g. enteroviruses and noroviruses) is lower than the current conventional pre-treatment. Membrane integrity has been assessed during two years by means of tailored tests based on bacteriophages with different properties (MS-2, GA and PDR-1) and bacterial spores (Bacillus spores). Membrane integrity has not been compromised despite the challenging conditions faced by directly treating raw river water. Bacteriophage PDR-1 appears as a suitable microbe to test membrane integrity, as its size is slightly larger than the considered membrane pore size. However, its implementation at full scale plant is still challenging due to difficulties in obtaining enough phages for its seeding.
authors.affiliation: CETaqua, Water Technology Center, Carretera d'Esplugues 75, 08940, Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain. Electronic address: oferrer@cetaqua.com.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ferrer
authors.affiliation: CETaqua, Water Technology Center, Carretera d'Esplugues 75, 08940, Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Casas
authors.affiliation: CETaqua, Water Technology Center, Carretera d'Esplugues 75, 08940, Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Galvañ
authors.affiliation: Departament de Microbiologia, UB, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 643, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lucena
authors.affiliation: Departament de Microbiologia, UB, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 643, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.affiliation: AB, Aigües de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 211, 08018, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Galofré
authors.affiliation: AB, Aigües de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 211, 08018, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mesa
authors.affiliation: Departament de Microbiologia, UB, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 643, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jofre
authors.affiliation: CETaqua, Water Technology Center, Carretera d'Esplugues 75, 08940, Cornellà de Llobregat, Spain.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bernat
mesh_terms: D001407:Bacillus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001435:Bacteriophages / Q000302:isolation & purification; D060766:Drinking Water / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000821:virology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D045483:Rivers / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000821:virology; D013171:Spores, Bacterial / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014462:Ultrafiltration / Q000379:methods*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D060766:Drinking Water
keywords: Bacteriophages; Enteroviruses; Integrity; Noroviruses; Ultrafiltration