Isolation of viruses from drinking water at the Pont-Viau water treatment plant

Abstract

Viruses were isolated from every sample of raw (100 L) and treated (1000 L) water collected at a water treatment plant drawing sewage-contaminated river water. Few plaque-forming isolates were found but cytopathogenic viruses were isolated as frequently in drinking water as in raw water. In drinking water some samples contained more than 1 cytopathogenic unit per litre, but most contained 1–10/100 L. These viruses had not been inactivated or removed by prechlorination, flocculation, filtration, ozonation, and postchlorination. There were no coliforms present and a residual chlorine level had been maintained. Poliovirus type 1 was a frequent isolate but many isolates were nonpoliovirus. The presence of these viruses in drinking water raises questions about the efficacy of some water treatment processes to remove viruses from polluted water.