Bacterial population – interface between hospitals, WWTPs and aquatic ecosystems

Abstract

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are an important interface between rural, urban and clinical activities and the natural environment. Unfortunately, there is a major issue of the survival and transmission of the fecal bacteria from WWTPs into the natural emissaries and subsequently their dissemination over a large areal. An important source of water contamination with microorganisms causing digestive infections is represented by domestic and clinical wastewater discharged into natural emissions. In addition to the amounts of organic matter and nutrients, the microbiological inadequately treated WWTPs effluent could be continuously discharged the environment, negatively influencing the surrounding environment as well as a human health. Overall, the hospitals have been major hot spots of pathogenic bacteria and thus facilitate their spread via treated WWTPs effluents, which have become a significant source of pathogenic bacteria released into downstream environment. In addition, hospital effluent with its multidrug resistant bacteria load, including the enteric pathogens, could pose a major problem to the community. The main goal of this paper was to shown the impact of WWTPs on fecal populations’ bacteria and their spreading into the aquatic ecosystems.