A novel approach for pathogen reduction in wastewater treatment

Many sewage waste treatment systems are aiming for complete pathogen removal which necessitates search for novel approaches that does not harm the environment. One such novel approach is exploring the possibilities of bacteriophages for pathogen removal. Hospital wastewater was collected from different locations of Tamil Nadu and used for the study. The total heterotroph and total coliform population ranged from 1.6 × 105 to 8.3 × 106 per mL and from 1.2 × 103 to 1.6 × 103/ 100 mL of sample respectively. Higher frequency of antibiotic resistant E. coli, Pseudomonas sp. Streptococcus sp and Bacillus spp were observed in all the places, which clearly indicated the extent of pollution. All the samples had specific phages against E. coli and none of the samples had phages against MTCC culture. E. coli specific phage was isolated and the population of phage required for effective killing of E. coli has been standardized as 3 × 104 pfu / mL of lysate. The inoculation resulted in 100% removal of pathogen from sewage water within 14 hours of incubation.