Abstract
Point of use (POU) household water treatment is increasingly being adopted as a solution for access to safe water. Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) are found in water, but there is little research on whether NTM survive POU treatment. Mycobacteria may be removed by multi-barrier treatment systems that combine processes such as coagulation, settling and disinfection. This work evaluated removal of a non-tuberculous Mycobacterium (Mycobaterium terrae) and a Gram-negative non-acid-fast environmental bacterium (Aeromonas hydrophila) by combined coagulation-flocculation disinfection POU treatment. Aeromonas hydrophila showed 7.7 log10 reduction in demand free buffer, 6.8 log10 in natural surface water, and 4 log10 reduction in fecally contaminated surface water. Turbidity after treatment was <1 NTU. There was almost no reduction in levels of viable M. terrae by coagulant-flocculant-disinfectant in natural water after 30 minutes. The lack of Mycobacteria reduction was similar for both combined coagulant-flocculant-disinfectant and hypochlorite alone. A POU coagulant-flocculant-disinfectant treatment effectively reduced A. hydrophila from natural surface waters but not Mycobacteria. These results reinforce previous findings that POU coagulation-flocculation-disinfection is effective against gram-negative enteric bacteria. POU treatment and safe storage interventions may need to take into account risks from viable NTM in treated stored water and consider alternative treatment processes to achieve NTM reductions.
Highlights
Household water treatment is increasingly being adopted as a solution for households and communities without access to safe water sources
Members of the genus Mycobacterium other than M. tuberculosis, collectively known as non-tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM), are recognized causes of illness in immunocompromised people, including people living with HIV/AIDS [5,6]
The coagulant-flocculant-disinfectant was tested for performance against Aeromonas hydrophila in both Oxidant demand free (ODF) buffer and natural surface water
Summary
Household water treatment is increasingly being adopted as a solution for households and communities without access to safe water sources. Household water treatment technologies have demonstrated effectiveness against microbial pathogens, storage remains a critical link in the provision of safe water access at the household level [1,2]. Members of the genus Mycobacterium other than M. tuberculosis, collectively known as non-tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM), are recognized causes of illness in immunocompromised people, including people living with HIV/AIDS [5,6]. These bacteria are acid-fast, with cell walls containing mycolic acids, which non-acid fast bacteria lack. Treated water has been implicated as a possible source of MAC illness in individuals with
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