Fate of Viruses in Water Systems

Abstract

AbstractThis paper reviews the state of knowledge regarding human viruses in water systems from an environmental engineer's perspective. The authors describe (1) viruses of concern and potential human diseases; (2) waterborne outbreaks related to viruses; (3) the sources, reservoirs, and fate of viruses in the environment; (4) the use of viruses as microbial source tracking tools; (5) virus survival and virus transport; (6) virus concentration and detection methods; (7) the fate of viruses in water treatment; (8) the removal of viruses in full-scale, bench, and pilot-scale conventional and membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater systems; and (9) other issues related to viruses in water systems such as the role of bacterial viruses (phages) and viral risk assessment. Occurrence of human pathogenic viruses in environmental waters (i.e., surface waters, groundwater, drinking water, recreational water, and wastewater) raises concerns regarding the possibility of human exposure and waterborne infections. Commonly...