Targeted Virus Analysis of Aerosol Emissions from Wastewater Treatment Plant
SHRUTI CHOUDHARY, Ayaaz Amirali, Darlington Imhanzuaria, Mark Sharkey, Stephan Schurer, Dusica Vidovic, Chris Mason, Helena Solo-Gabriele, Pratim Biswas,
University of Miami Abstract Number: 591
Working Group: Bioaerosols
AbstractStudies have shown that wastewater provides rich insights into pathogenic viruses, bacteria and protozoa released to sewage from human populations. Few studies however have evaluated the aerosols generated from wastewater. Aerosols can be generated during bubble bursting at wastewater treatment plants such as within primary (e.g., grit chambers) and secondary (e.g., aeration tanks) treatment processes. Through bubble bursting wastewater treatment plants can be one important sources of bioaerosol in the atmosphere and also pose occupational health hazard to the workers and communities near waste water treatment plants. The objective of this study was to quantify bioaerosol contributions from wastewater treatment plants by analyzing samples from a grit chamber and aeration tank at a wastewater treatment plant. Samples were processed for RNA quantification, targeted qPCR, and genome sequencing. Levels of RNA recovered from aerosol sampling ranged from 2.6 to 9.8 ng/µL. Targeted quantitative PCR found levels of the human dietary virus pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) at levels that ranged from 3.8 x 10
5 to 1.2 x 10
6 genomic copies (gc) per cubic meter of air. The virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, was observed at near detection limit levels (0 to 587 gc/m
3) for samples that recovered higher levels of RNA. Current efforts are focusing on increasing RNA recoveries in efforts to improve the sensitivity of measurements to aerosolized microbes from wastewater.