TY - JOUR
T1 - Plants release, pathogens decease
T2 - Plants with documented antimicrobial activity are associated with Campylobacter and faecal indicator attenuation in stormwater biofilters
AU - Galbraith, P.
AU - Henry, R.
AU - McCarthy, D. T.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Australian Research Council's Discovery Early Career Researcher Award [ DE140100524 ] awarded to David Thomas McCarthy. The funders had no role in the decision to publish, study design, data collection and analysis, or manuscript preparation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2024/1/1
Y1 - 2024/1/1
N2 - Stormwater biofilters demonstrate promising treatment of faecal microorganisms, however performance can vary with design and operational conditions. This study investigated whether plants with significant documented antimicrobial activity could improve faecal bacterial treatment within biofilters. Laboratory-scale biofilters (n = 30) were dosed with synthetic stormwater containing faecal bacteria Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Campylobacter jejuni under south-eastern Australian climatic conditions. Systems vegetated with Melaleuca species, renowned for their in vitro antimicrobial activity, consistently enhanced removal of all tested culturable bacteria in total outflow and submerged zone water relative to other plant configurations. Within just 1–2 days of stormwater dosing, M. linariifolia submerged zones demonstrated significantly reduced bacterial concentrations compared to C. appressa (p = 0.023 and <0.001 for C. jejuni and E. coli, respectively), removing ∼1.47 log10 MPN/100 mL E. coli, ∼1.14 log10 MPN/100 mL E. faecalis and ∼0.81 log10 MPN/L C. jejuni from inflow. These trends continued even after all but one M. linariifolia replicate perished during an extended drying period (p = 0.002 and 0.003 for C. jejuni and E. coli, respectively). Through a systematic process of elimination, these observations were attributed to enhanced bacterial attenuation with elevated plant inhibitory activity. Cumulative biofilter age reinforced plant-mediated bacterial treatment (p = 0.023 for E. faecalis), ostensibly due to increased plant size/growth and net biological activity. Notably, E. coli and E. faecalis attenuation improved with prolonged antecedent drying length (14 vs. 4 days; p < 0.0001 for both), while the converse was observed for C. jejuni (not significant). This study addresses significant knowledge gaps around plant-mediated faecal microbe treatment within biofilters, providing key direction for real-world system design to optimise stormwater pathogen treatment.
AB - Stormwater biofilters demonstrate promising treatment of faecal microorganisms, however performance can vary with design and operational conditions. This study investigated whether plants with significant documented antimicrobial activity could improve faecal bacterial treatment within biofilters. Laboratory-scale biofilters (n = 30) were dosed with synthetic stormwater containing faecal bacteria Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Campylobacter jejuni under south-eastern Australian climatic conditions. Systems vegetated with Melaleuca species, renowned for their in vitro antimicrobial activity, consistently enhanced removal of all tested culturable bacteria in total outflow and submerged zone water relative to other plant configurations. Within just 1–2 days of stormwater dosing, M. linariifolia submerged zones demonstrated significantly reduced bacterial concentrations compared to C. appressa (p = 0.023 and <0.001 for C. jejuni and E. coli, respectively), removing ∼1.47 log10 MPN/100 mL E. coli, ∼1.14 log10 MPN/100 mL E. faecalis and ∼0.81 log10 MPN/L C. jejuni from inflow. These trends continued even after all but one M. linariifolia replicate perished during an extended drying period (p = 0.002 and 0.003 for C. jejuni and E. coli, respectively). Through a systematic process of elimination, these observations were attributed to enhanced bacterial attenuation with elevated plant inhibitory activity. Cumulative biofilter age reinforced plant-mediated bacterial treatment (p = 0.023 for E. faecalis), ostensibly due to increased plant size/growth and net biological activity. Notably, E. coli and E. faecalis attenuation improved with prolonged antecedent drying length (14 vs. 4 days; p < 0.0001 for both), while the converse was observed for C. jejuni (not significant). This study addresses significant knowledge gaps around plant-mediated faecal microbe treatment within biofilters, providing key direction for real-world system design to optimise stormwater pathogen treatment.
KW - Antimicrobial
KW - Biofilter
KW - Campylobacter
KW - Fecal microorganisms
KW - Urban stormwater
KW - Vegetation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173291800&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167474
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167474
M3 - Article
C2 - 37804974
AN - SCOPUS:85173291800
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 906
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 167474
ER -
