Concentrations of nitrifying bacteria in sewages, effluents, and a receiving stream and resistance of these organisms to chlorination

Abstract

Estimates of NH4+-and NO2-oxidizers in samples from four activated sludge plants treating mainly domestic sewage were obtained using a most-probable-number (MPN) technique. Ranges of concentrations per milliliter of each, respectively, were 1,010 to 3,880 and 79 to 145 in settled sewages, 32 to 7,420 and 2 to 1,010 in secondary effluents, and less than 0.1 to 622 and 0.1 to 70 in chlorinated secondary effluents. The results of this field study indicated that nitrifiers were more resistant to chlorination than fecal streptococci, which were also enumerated. In laboratory studies the survivals of these bacterial groups in secondary effluents were determined after exposure to chlorine residuals of up to 2 mg/liter for 0 to 60 min. The nitrifiers proved considerably more resistant than fecal streptococci, with NO2-oxidizers showing greater resistance than NH4+-oxidizers. Below the outfall of one of the plants that discharges heavily chlorinated unnitrified effluent, NH4+-oxidizers amounted to approximately 200 X 10(5) per g of slime scraped from stream-bed rocks. Upstream of the outfall this was approximatley 3 X 10(5)/G.