Human-specific fecal bacteria in wastewater treatment plant effluents

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify fecal bacteria able to persist after wastewater treatment and that could be used as indicators of human fecal contamination. In a first step, the diversity of Bacteroidales, Clostridiaceae, Bifidobacterium, and Bacillus– Streptococcus– Lactobacillus cluster (BSL) was analysed using a fingerprint technique (CE-SSCP) and 16S rDNA libraries in waters collected at the end of the treatment process in different urban wastewater treatment plants. For each group, dominant bacteria present in most effluents were identified. Their origin (human feces, animal feces, non-fecal) was then analysed based on data of their closest relatives in public 16S rDNA databases. Among fecal bacteria recovered in the treated effluents analysed, phylotypes close to Bifidobacterium adolescentis and Bacteroides caccae seem to be specific to human beings. Phylotypes gathering only sequences of human fecal origin were also identified among the BSL and Clostridiaceae, two bacterial groups which have been poorly investigated for bacterial source-tracking purpose. Since these bacteria were detected post-treatment in most wastewater treatment plants, they may constitute potential new indicators of fecal contamination specific to humans that could be used to track fecal contamination of surface water by sewage.