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Particle size distribution of cultivable airborne microbes and inhalable particulate matter in a wastewater treatment plant facility

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Abstract

A field study was performed to identify the size distribution characteristics of viable, cultivable airborne microorganisms (heterotrophic bacteria, fungi, and total coliforms) at a municipal wastewater treatment facility, and their association with inhalable particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, and PM10), as well as hydrogen sulfide concentrations and ambient meteorological parameters. The highest concentrations of cultivable, airborne heterotrophic bacteria, total coliforms, mass and number concentration of particulate matter, as well as hydrogen sulfide were observed at the aerated grit removal chambers at the pretreatment stage (3 to 2030 times higher than the values of the background ambient air). In contrast, the mean concentrations of cultivable, airborne mesophilic fungi at the aerated grit chambers were 0.6 time lower than the background site, where fungi presented the most abundant taxonomic group in the ambient air. Although the highest concentrations of the airborne fungi were determined at aerodynamic diameters between 2.1 and 3.3 μm, a nearly equal distribution of the mean concentrations of the cultivable, airborne heterotrophic bacteria were observed in the six different size fractions at the primary settling tanks and in the ambient air. Interestingly, their size distribution profiles at the aerated grit chambers were different and showed a maximum aerodynamic diameter at the size range from 3.3 to 4.7 μm, similar to that of the cultivable, airborne total coliforms. In general, low positive or no significant linear relationships could be found between the cultivable airborne heterotrophic bacteria, total coliforms, or fungi at the two wastewater treatment stages and the ambient background microbial community.

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Acknowledgements

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme HEXACOMM FP7/2007-2013 under Grant Agreement No. 315760. The authors want to thank the Municipal Enterprise for Water and Sewage of Chania (Crete, Greece) (DEYACH) for the permission of air sampling at the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant of Chania. In particular, we thank the chemical engineer C. Kotsifaki and her co-workers in the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant of Chania for her kindly help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Romanou 3, 73133, Chania, Crete, Greece

    E. Katsivela & L. Raisi

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Polytechneioupolis, 73100, Chania, Crete, Greece

    E. Latos, V. Aleksandropoulou & M. Lazaridis

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  1. E. Katsivela
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Correspondence to E. Katsivela.

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Katsivela, E., Latos, E., Raisi, L. et al. Particle size distribution of cultivable airborne microbes and inhalable particulate matter in a wastewater treatment plant facility. Aerobiologia 33, 297–314 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-016-9470-2

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