Impact of an intense combined sewer overflow event on the microbiological water quality of the Seine River

Abstract

For a better understanding of the short and mid-term impacts of a combined sewer overflow (CSO) on the microbiological quality of the receiving river, we studied the composition of a CSO discharge and monitored during several hours the changes in the concentration of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in the impacted river water mass. The CSO occurred at the Clichy outfall (Paris agglomeration, France) in summer 2008 as a result of the most intense rainfall of the year. In 6h, 578, 705 m3 of sewage and 124 t of suspended matter (SM) were discharged into the Seine River. The CSO contained 1.5 × 106E. coli and 4.0 × 105 intestinal enterococci per 100 mL on average, and 77% of the E. coli were attached to SM. It was estimated that 89% of the CSO discharge was contributed by surface water runoff, and that resuspension of sewer sediment contributed to ∼75% of the SM, 10–70% of the E. coli and 40–80% of the intestinal enterococci. Directly downstream from the CSO outfall, FIB concentrations in the impacted water mass of the Seine River (2.9 × 105E. coli and 7.6 × 104 intestinal enterococci per 100 mL) exceeded by two orders of magnitude the usual dry weather concentrations. After 13–14 h of transit, these concentrations had decreased by 66% for E. coli and 79% for intestinal enterococci. This decline was well accounted for by our estimations of dilution, decay resulting from mortality or loss of culturability and sedimentation of the attached fraction of FIB.