Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater (상하수도학회지)

The Korean Society of Water and Wastewater (대한상하수도학회)
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Bacterial growth and carbon-to-phosphorus consumption in drinking water with different carbon and phosphorus levels

수돗물의 탄소와 인 농도에 따른 세균의 생장과 C/P 소모율

  • Choi, Sung-Chan (Department of Environmental Science & Biotechnology, Hallym University) ;
  • Park, e-Keun (Department of Environmental Engineering, Kangwon National University) ;
  • Kim, Yeong-Kwan (Department of Environmental Engineering, Kangwon National University)
  • Received : 2013.11.08
  • Accepted : 2013.12.02
  • Published : 2013.12.15
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Abstract

Bacterial growth and corresponding consumption of carbon and phosphorus were examined in which tap water samples containing a very low concentration of free chlorine were supplemented with organic carbon and/or phosphorus. The experiments were performed in a fed-batch mode under a controlled temperature of $20^{\circ}C$. In the phosphorus alone-added water, there was no significant increase in bacterial numbers measured as heterotrophic plate count (HPC) in the bulk water. However, bacterial growth was stimulated by the addition of carbon (e.g., bulk HPC levels increased to $10^3CFU/mL$) and further stimulated by the combined addition of carbon and phosphorus (e.g., bulk HPC to $10^5CFU/mL$). The same effects were observed in biofilm HPC and biomass formed on polyethylene (PE) slide surfaces. In the water where organic carbon and phosphorus were added together, the highest biofilm HPC and biomass (measured as extracellular polymeric substance components) densities were observed which were $7.6{\times}10^5CFU/cm^2$ and $5.3{\mu}g/cm^2$, respectively. In addition to the bacterial growth, additions of organic carbon and/or phosphorus resulted in different bacterial carbon-to-phosphorus (C/P) consumption ratios. Compared to a typical bacterial C/P consumption ratio of 100:1, a higher C/P ratio (590:1) occurred in the carbon alone-added water, while a lower ratio (40:1) in phosphorus alone-added water. Comparative value (80:1) of C/P ratio was also observed in the water where organic carbon and phosphorus were added together. At the given experimental conditions, bacterial growth was deemed to be more sensitive to microbially available organic carbon than phosphorus. The effect of phosphorus addition, which resulted in a lower C/P consumption ratio, seemed to be tightly associated with the presence of microbially available organic carbon. These results suggested that the control of extrinsic carbon influx seemed to be more important to minimize bacterial regrowth in drinking water system, since even low content of phosphorus naturally occurring in drinking water was enough to allow a bacterial growth.

잔류염소 농도가 상당히 낮은 수돗물에서 유기탄소(organic carbon)와 인(phosphorus)의 증가가 세균 생장에 미치는 영향과 세균에 의한 유기탄소와 인의 소모를 fed-batch 실험조건($20^{\circ}C$ 수온)에서 조사하였다. 수돗물에서 단지 인의 증가만으로는 부유성 세균의 현저한 수적 증가는 나타나지 않았다. 그러나 유기탄소의 증가는 부유성 세균을 $10^3CFU/mL$ 수준까지 증가시켰으며, 특히 유기탄소와 함께 동반된 인의 증가는 부유성 세균을 $10^5CFU/mL$ 수준까지 증가시켰다. 이러한 효과들은 polyethylene (PE) slide 표면에 형성된 생물막 세균과 생물량 측정에서도 동일하게 나타났다. 유기탄소와 함께 인 농도가 높은 수돗물에서 PE slide 표면에 형성된 생물막 세균과 세포외 중합체(extracellular polymeric substance) 구성 성분으로 측정된 생물량은 각각 $7.6{\times}10^5CFU/cm^2$와 $5.3{\mu}g/cm^2$로 가장 높았다. 세균 생장과 더불어, 수돗물에서 유기탄소와 인의 증가는 세균에 의한 탄소와 인의 이용 패턴에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 전형적인 세균의 C/P 소모비율(100:1)과 비교했을 때, 상대적으로 높은 C/P 소모비율(590:1)은 유기탄소 농도가 높은 수돗물에서, 그리고 상대적으로 낮은 C/P 소모비율(40:1)은 인 농도가 높은 수돗물에서 관찰되었다. 또한 유기탄소와 함께 인 농도가 높은 수돗물에서도 상대적으로 낮은 C/P 소모비율(80:1)이 관찰되었다. 주어진 실험조건에서는 수돗물과 생물막내 세균 생장이 인의 증가보다는 유기탄소의 증가에 더욱 민감하게 반응하는 것으로 나타났다. 수돗물에서 인의 증가는 세균의 낮은 C/P 소모비율을 가져오지만, 세균 생장에 미치는 인의 영향은 세균이 쉽게 이용할 수 있는 유기탄소의 존재와 밀접하게 관련되어 있는 것으로 보인다. 그러므로 수돗물에 자연적으로 존재하는 낮은 농도의 인만으로도 세균 생장을 위해 필요한 인 요구량을 만족시킬 수 있기 때문에, 수돗물에서 세균 생장의 최소화를 위해서는 인보다는 유기탄소의 외부적인 유입을 제어하는 것이 더욱 중요한 것으로 판단된다.

Keywords

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