REMOVAL EFFICIENCIES OF PATHOGENIC VIRUSES IN THE SURFACE LAYER OF SOIL AQUIFER TREATMENT

Abstract

 Soil aquifer treatment (SAT) is an eco-friendly water reclamation process. For implementing SAT system, the understating on the impact of the surface layer of SAT for virus removal is an important aspect for a SAT system with a short retention time in urban area. This study evaluated the adenovirus and rotavirus removals by SAT with a pilot-scale reactor and laboratory-scale columns (saturated and unsaturated conditions). It was found that higher virus removal was observed in the surface layer especially under the unsaturated condition than in the lower part of the soil. Also, virus type affected virus removal efficiency. This shows that for the implementation of a SAT system, it is necessary to assess the removal efficiency of the virus of concern during SAT.