Helminth eggs assessment of fecal sludge in urban area of Bandung, Indonesia

Abstract

Soil-transmitted helminth eggs present to be non-excludable parameter for water quality and sanitation since they are linked to public health concern. Unfortunately, investigation of helminth eggs presence in wastewater is very limited in Indonesia. The result of previous study confirmed helminth eggs presence in irrigation water and land samples in agriculture field in urban area of Bandung. Inappropriate of wastewater treatment system and reuse of unsafe wastewater are the reason why helminth egg were found in agriculture area. Therefore, this study was conducted to get better understanding of helminth eggs presence in wastewater especially in fecal sludge of the city. Samples were collected from desludging trucks servicing residential and non-residential septic tanks from total 17 areas. Modification of US EPA method is used to analyse and enumerate the viable helminth eggs. There are big variations amount of helminth egg in samples from different area, from 4 eggs/L to 617 eggs/L. We found more than 10 species of helminth eggs. Hookworm egg counts were higher than those of Fasciola hepatica and Ascaris lumbricoides. This study also showed that septic tank inefficient for reducing helminth eggs presence in fecal sludge and for fulfilled recommendation of WHO for safe water reuse.