Removal of Pathogens in Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems: A Review of Design Considerations and Influencing Factors
1
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
2
New York State Center for Clean Water Technology, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA
3
Ward Melville High School, Three Village Central School District, East Setauket, NY 11733, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Cristina Sousa Coutinho Calheiros
Water 2021, 13(9), 1190; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091190
Received: 17 March 2021
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Revised: 20 April 2021
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Accepted: 21 April 2021
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Published: 25 April 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Management: New Paradigms for Water Treatment and Reuse)
Conventional onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTSs) could potentially contribute to the transmission of infectious diseases caused by waterborne pathogenic microorganisms and become an important human health concern, especially in the areas where OWTSs are used as the major wastewater treatment units. Although previous studies suggested the OWTSs could reduce chemical pollutants as well as effectively reducing microbial contaminants from onsite wastewater, the microbiological quality of effluents and the factors potentially affecting the removal are still understudied. Therefore, the design and optimization of pathogen removal performance necessitate a better mechanistic understanding of the hydrological, geochemical, and biological processes controlling the water quality in OWTSs. To fill the knowledge gaps, the sources of pathogens and common pathogenic indicators, along with their major removal mechanisms in OWTSs were discussed. This review evaluated the effectiveness of pathogen removal in state-of-art OWTSs and investigated the contributing factors for efficient pathogen removal (e.g., system configurations, filter materials, environmental and operational conditions), with the aim to guide the future design for optimized treatment performance.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Wang, M.; Zhu, J.; Mao, X. Removal of Pathogens in Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems: A Review of Design Considerations and Influencing Factors. Water 2021, 13, 1190. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091190
AMA Style
Wang M, Zhu J, Mao X. Removal of Pathogens in Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems: A Review of Design Considerations and Influencing Factors. Water. 2021; 13(9):1190. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091190
Chicago/Turabian StyleWang, Mian, Julia Zhu, and Xinwei Mao. 2021. "Removal of Pathogens in Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems: A Review of Design Considerations and Influencing Factors" Water 13, no. 9: 1190. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091190
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