Abstract
This study evaluated removal of live emerging waterborne pathogens by pilot-scale conventional treatment with alum coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, and filtration. The microbes tested were Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts, Encephalitozoon intestinalis spores, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli O157:H7, Aeromonas hydrophila, and bacteriophage MS2. The study showed the effects of filter run time, alternative loading rates, alternative filter media, and pH on pathogen removal. Results indicated that turbidity breakthrough was accompanied by breakthrough of all pathogens tested in this study. Results also suggest that the breakthrough of A. hydrophila and E. coli O157:H7 occurred more rapidly than that of turbidity. In general, filtration rate or alternative filter media configurations had no apparent effect on pathogen removal.