DETERMINATION OF PERFORMANCE TARGET VALUES FOR ENTERIC VIRUS REMOVAL IN WASTEWATER RECLAMATION

Abstract

 The present study proposes an approach for determining a target value of enteric virus removal in wastewater reclamation processes based on monitoring datasets of source water quality and tolerable annual disease burden. In the proposed approach, probabilistic distributions of norovirus (NoV) concentration in the influent of domestic wastewater treatment plant were estimated, and tolerable concentration of NoV in reclaimed wastewater was determined to meet the tolerable annual disease burden (10^-6 disability adjusted life year per person per year) based on quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). The target values of NoV removal were then computed using the probabilistic distributions of NoV and the tolerabole concentration according to six exposure scenarios for water reuse. It is required to monitor the virus concentration in untreated wastewater even after the operation of wastewater reclamation and reuse system is started. It is also important to continusouly update models and assumptions in QMRA for revising locally appropriate level of performance target value of enteric virus removal in a wastewater reclamation system.