Papers Published

1. Batch, Lawrencf F. and Schulz, Christopher R. and Linden, Karl G., Evaluating water quality effects on UV disinfection of MS2 coliphage, Journal / American Water Works Association, vol. 96 no. 7 (2004), pp. 75 - 87 .
   (last updated on 2007/04/09)

   Abstract:
   Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection is being considered for inactivation of pathogens in filtered surface waters across North America. MS2 coliphage is the most commonly used test microbe for UV reactor validation in North America, and the development of UV dose-response data for MS2 at bench scale is an integral part of validation testing. This research evaluated the effect of water quality (e.g., turbidity, particle count, particle size, and absorbance) and sample depth on inactivation of MS2 coliphage in 17 filtered waters. In addition, the inactivation performance of low-pressure (LP) and medium-pressure (MP) lamp types was compared. Results indicated that turbidity, particle count, and absorbance, when factored into the bench-scale dose measurement, did not affect UV inactivation of MS2 coliphage in filtered waters meeting federal regulations. UV light from MP lamps appeared more effective than LP UV for inactivating MS2. These results suggest that water quality should not be considered a major factor in properly designed UV bench-scale tests or in reactor validation challenges that use inactivation kinetics of MS2 coliphage as a dose-measurement tool in filtered surface waters.

   Keywords:
   Water filtration;Microorganisms;Water quality;Particle size analysis;Surface waters;Wastewater;Environmental protection;Water treatment;Nucleic acids;