Abstract
Patrick J. McNamara works in the field of environmental engineering. In this mSphere of Influence article, he reflects on how the papers "Bacterial community structure in the drinking water microbiome is governed by filtration processes" (A. J. Pinto, C. Xi, and L. Raskin, Environ Sci Technol 46:8851-8859, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1021/es302042t) and "Differential resistance of drinking water bacterial populations to monochloramine disinfection" (T. Chiao, T. M. Clancy, A. Pinto, C. Xi, and L. Raskin, Environ Sci Technol 48:4038-4047, 2014, https://doi.org/10.1021/es4055725) by Lutgarde Raskin and colleagues made an impact on him by providing a foundation for the study of microbial ecology in engineering drinking water treatment plants and drinking water distribution systems.
Highlights
Should we engineer our drinking water treatment plants to select for specific microbial communities? Should we not decide as a society first if we want to control microbial communities in water that people drink? Wait, are we already doing that? Two papers by Lutgarde Raskin’s research group (“Bacterial community structure in the drinking water microbiome is governed by filtration processes” [1] and “Differential resistance of drinking water bacterial populations to monochloramine disinfection” [2]) have influenced the way that the environmental engineering and science community views and understands the roles, intended or not, of engineered systems on microbial communities in our drinking water
I remember thinking when I was a young graduate student seeing this work presented by Ameet Pinto on a poster at the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) meeting in 2010: “Properly disinfected drinking water has abundant microbial communities? What are you doing branching into this drinking water silo that is so heavily dominated by physical-chemical treatment process researchers?”
These papers by the Raskin group revealed the microbial ecology of drinking water engineering systems in a broader perspective
Summary
Should we engineer our drinking water treatment plants to select for specific microbial communities? Should we not decide as a society first if we want to control microbial communities in water that people drink? Wait, are we already doing that? Two papers by Lutgarde Raskin’s research group (“Bacterial community structure in the drinking water microbiome is governed by filtration processes” [1] and “Differential resistance of drinking water bacterial populations to monochloramine disinfection” [2]) have influenced the way that the environmental engineering and science community views and understands the roles, intended or not, of engineered systems on microbial communities in our drinking water. Should we engineer our drinking water treatment plants to select for specific microbial communities? Should we not decide as a society first if we want to control microbial communities in water that people drink? The general question posed by these papers is this: do our engineered disinfection processes in drinking water alter microbial communities?
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