Citation:

Zhang, C., I. Struewing, J. Mistry, D. Wahman, J. Pressman, AND J. Lu. Legionella and other opportunistic pathogens in full-scale chloraminated municipal drinking water distribution systems. WATER RESEARCH. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 205:117571, (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2021.117571

Impact/Purpose:

Drinking water quality may have public health implications. Monitoring microbial water quality is critical to estimate the microbe-associated health risks of drinking water. However, a group of natural inhabitants of drinking water, opportunistic pathogens (OPs), occurs in DWDSs at high densities, frequently causes water-related disease outbreaks, and is thus a major microbial factor threatening public health. Therefore, closely monitoring microbial water quality in DWDSs, especially the dynamics of OPs, is an urgent task for the water industry to better protect public health. Legionella is a key natural inhabitant in DWDSs with relatively high densities and correlates with important microbial (e.g., amoebae and biofilms) and physicochemical (e.g., disinfectant residuals) water quality parameters. For instance, Legionella and major OPs in DWDSs share multiple key features such as disease-causing, disinfectant resistance, biofilm formation, and proliferation in amoebae. Thus, we propose that Legionella can be an indicator for drinking water microbial water quality. Researches from institutes and managers from utilities could be interested in the results.

Description:

Water-based opportunistic pathogens (OPs) are a leading cause of drinking-water-related disease outbreaks, especially in developed countries such as the United States (US). Physicochemical water quality parameters, especially disinfectant residuals, control the (re)growth, presence, colonization, and concentrations of OPs in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs), while the relationship between OPs and those parameters remain unclear. This study aimed to quantify how physicochemical parameters, mainly monochloramine residual concentration, hydraulic residence time (HRT), and seasonality, affected the occurrence and concentrations of four common OPs (Legionella, Mycobacterium, Pseudomonas, and Vermamoeba vermiformis) in four full-scale DWDSs in the US. Legionella as a dominant OP occurred in 93.8% of the 64 sampling events and had a mean density of 4.27 × 105 genome copies per liter. Legionella positively correlated with Mycobacterium, Pseudomonas, and total bacteria. Multiple regression with data from the four DWDSs showed that Legionella had significant correlations with total chlorine residual level, free ammonia concentration, and trihalomethane concentration. Therefore, Legionella is a promising indicator of water-based OPs, reflecting microbial water quality in chloraminated DWDSs. The OP concentrations had strong seasonal variations and peaked in winter and/or spring possibly because of reduced water usage (i.e., increased water stagnation or HRT) during cold seasons. The OP concentrations generally increased with HRT presumably because of disinfectant residual decay, indicating the importance of well-maintaining disinfectant residuals in DWDSs for OP control. The concentrations of Mycobacterium, Pseudomonas, and V. vermiformis were significantly associated with total chlorine residual concentration, free ammonia concentration, and pH and trihalomethane concentration, respectively. Overall, this study demonstrates how the significant spatiotemporal variations of OP concentrations in chloraminated DWDSs correlated with critical physicochemical water quality parameters such as disinfectant residual levels. This work also indicates that Legionella is a promising indicator of OPs and microbial water quality in chloraminated DWDSs.

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