Recent Progress on the Pollution Characteristics and Inactivation Approaches of Fungi in Water

Abstract

Abstract Fungi are ubiquitous components of the phylogeny and functional diversity of almost all ecosystems on earth, and are widely distributed in natural and artificial water bodies. People are constantly exposed to fungi. Direct or indirect contact with certain fungi can cause human diseases. People’s awareness and demand for safe water have gradually increased in recent years. This paper mainly reviews the fungal contamination characteristics in water and two kinds of fungal inactivation approaches. The first method for fungal inactivation is single disinfectant inactivation, such as chlorine inactivation, chlorine dioxide inactivation, ultraviolet inactivation and ozone inactivation. The second method is combined inactivation, such as advanced oxidation technology (AOT) combined with ultraviolet-chlorine, and ozone-chlorine sequential inactivation processes. Among all the fungal inactivation pathways mentioned above, AOT and sequential inactivation have been shown to be better than single disinfectant inactivation. UV radiation and sunlight enhance the inactivating effect of oxidants on fungi by producing hydroxyl radicals. Synergistic effects play an important role in sequential inactivation. This paper has significance as a reference on how to choose inactivation methods and what follow-up fungal inactivation research is warranted.