Monitoring microbial community development in a newly-commissioned WWTP
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The commissioning of a WWTP provided a unique opportunity to link floc structure dynamics with the changes in the microbial community during start-up and stabilization.
An AS plant operating under an SBR regime was seeded with AS from a continuous process. The microbial community was monitored using microscopic examination and molecular methods. Floc characteristics were inferred from particle size distribution and EPS production.
Monitoring was carried out for eight weeks. During this time the AS maintained excellent settling properties (SVI < 100) while the microbial community and floc architecture adapted. The bacterial diversity increased 20% and half the seed population disappeared. Multi-dimensional scaling of microbial community profiles indicated a continuous shift away from the seed population. The amount of EPS doubled and then dropped after week two. Average floc size increased from 100 µm to 350 µm.
The last two samples indicated a change in microbial community coinciding with an increase in small particulates. Further analyses will determine whether such changes are a reliable diagnostic measure of changes in WWTP performance.
This study contributes towards understanding the relationship between AS microbial populations and performance indices and highlights new technology available for everyday use in microbiological monitoring of wastewater treatment.