Abstract
The present chapter aimed to highlight the pathogenic risk associated with the application of biosolids in agriculture. The main pathogens and their health importance as well as their ability to survive and be transmitted into humans through the food chain have been discussed. It has appeared that the direct utilization of biosolids in agriculture represents one of the main sources of human and animal infections due to the ability of most pathogens to survive in the environment. Therefore, the biosolids should be subjected to further treatment process in order to reduce the pathogen level to less than the health risk which lies in the elimination of these pathogens or minimize their ability to regrow in the environment.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Al-Gheethi AA, Norli I, Lalung J, Azieda T, Ab. Kadir MO (2013) Reduction of faecal indicators and elimination of pathogens from sewage treated effluents by heat treatment. Caspian J Appl Sci Res 2(2):29–45
Al-Gheethi AA, Abdul-Monem MO, Al-Zubeiry A, Al-Amery R, Efaq AN, Shamar A (2014) Effectiveness of selected wastewater treatment plants in Yemen for reduction of faecal indicators and pathogenic bacteria in secondary effluents and sludge. Water Pract Technol 9(3):293–306
Ashbolt NJ, Grabow WOK, Snozzi M (2001) Indicators of microbial water Association, Washington, DC
Autheunisse J, Koene JIA (1987) Alteration of the aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacterial flora of the A/B purification process caused by limited oxygen supply. Water Res 21:129–131
Azman TM, Shaari J (2013) Wastewater production, treatment and use in Malaysia. 5th regional workshop ‘Safe use of wastewater in agriculture’, 5–7 March 2013, Bali, Indonesia
Bagge E, Sahlström L, Albihn A (2005) The effect of hygienic treatment on the microbial flora of biowaste at biogas plants. Water Res 39(20):4879–4886
Beuchat LR (1996) Pathogenic microorganisms associated with fresh produce. J Food Prot 59(2):204–216
Burtscher C, Wuertz S (2003) Evaluation of the use of PCR and reverse transcriptase PCR for detection of pathogenic bacteria in biosolids from anaerobic digestors and aerobic composters. Appl Environ Microbiol 69(8):4618–4627
Cheremisinoff PN (1994) Sludge: management and disposal. Prentice Hall, New Jersey
Cools D, Merckx R, Vlassak K, Verhaegen J (2001) Survival of E. coli and Enterococcus spp. derived from pig slurry in soils of different texture. Appl Soil Ecol 17(1):53–62
Dailloux M, Laurain C, Weber M, Hartemann PH (1999) Water and nontuberculous mycobacteria. Water Res 33(10):2219–2228
De Luca G, Zanetti F, Fateh-Moghadm P, Stampi S (1998) Occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes in sewage sludge. Zentralbl Hyg Umweltmed= Int J Hyg Environ Med 201(3):269–277
Droffner ML, Brinton WF (1995) Survival of E. coli and Salmonella populations in aerobic thermophilic composts as measured with DNA gene probes. Zentralbl Hyg Umweltmed 197:387–397
Dudley DJ, Guentzel MN, Ibarra MJ, Moore BE, Sagik BP (1980) Enumeration of potentially pathogenic bacteria from sewage sludge. Appl Environ Microbiol 39:118–126
Dumontet S, Scopa A, Kerje S, Krovacek K (2001) The importance of pathogenic organisms in sewage and sewage sludge. J Air Waste Manag Assoc 51:848–860
Epstein E (2002) Health issues related to beneficial use of biosolids. In: 16th annual residuals and biosolids management conference of the water environment federation, Texas, p 9. March 2002
Evans TD (2012) Biosolids in Europe. Proc Water Environ Fed 2:108–117
Gallay A, De Valk H, Cournot M, Ladeuil B, Hemery C, Castor C, Bon F, Megraud F, Le Cann P, Desenclos JC (2006) A large multi-pathogen waterborne community outbreak linked to fecal contamination of a groundwater system. Clin Microbiol Infect 12:561–570
Gerba CP, Smith JE (2005) Sources of pathogenic microorganisms and their fate during land application of wastes. J Environ Qual 34(1):42–48
Grohmann A, Hässelbarth U, Schwerdtfeger W (2003) In: Grohmann A (ed) Die Trinkwasserverordnung: Einführung und Erläuterungen für Wasserversorgungsunternehmen und Überwachungsunternehmen, 4th edn. Erich Schmidt Verlag GmbH & Co, Berlin. 2003
Hamouda H, Abu-Shaaban N (2014) A path to sustainability: biogas recovery towards energy self sufficiency wastewater treatment plant. Health 6(6):1–8
Harrison E, McBride MB, Bouldin DR (1999) Land application of sewage sludges: an appraisal of the U. S. regulations. Int J Environ Pollut 11(1):1–36
Hoeller C, Koschinsky S, Witthuhn D (1999) Isolation of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli from municipal sewage. Lancet 353:2039
Holt MS, Waters J, Comber M (1995) AIS/CESIO environment surfactant monitoring program .SIDA sewage treatment pilot study on linear alkylbenzene sulphonate (LAS). Water Res 29:2063–2070
Huertasa E, Salgota M, Hollenderb J, Weberb S, Dottb W, Khan S, Schäferd A, Messaleme R, Bisf B, Aharonig A, Chikurel H (2008) Key objectives for water reuse concepts. Desalination 218(2008):120–131
Ibekwe AM, Grieve CM (2003) Detection and quantification of Escherichia coli O157: H7 in environmental samples by real-time PCR. J Appl Microbiol 94(3):421–431
Johansson M, Emmoth E, Salomonsson AC, Albihn A (2005) Potential risks when spreading anaerobic digestion residues on grass silage crops–survival of bacteria, moulds and viruses. Grass Forage Sci 60(2):175–185
Kaper JB, Nataro JP, Mobley HL (2004) Pathogenic E. coli. Nat Rev Microbiol 2:123–140
Kappesser S, Rude E, Kutzner HJ (1989) Microbiological studies of selected bacterial cultures for aerobic treatment of waste water. Proc Dechema Biotechnol Conf 3B:855–858
Kearney TE, Larkin MJ, Frost JP, Levett PN (1993) Survival of pathogenic bacteria during mesophilic anaerobic digestion of animal waste. J Appl Microbiol 75(3):215–219
Kowal NE (1983) An overview of public health effects. In: Page AL, Gleason TL, Smith JE, Iskander IK, Sommers LE (eds) Utilization of municipal wastewater and sludge on land. University of California, Riverside, pp 329–394
Larsen KL (1998) The effect of C: N ratio on bench-scale composting of pulp and paper biosolids
Lucero-Ramirez B (2000) The effects of time and temperature on the fate of pathogens and indicator bacteria during municipal wastewater sludge-mesophilic anaerobic digestion, air-drying and composting, Ph. D. Thesis. University of Texas, Austin
Ma J, Mark Ibekwe A, Crowley DE, Yang C-H (2014) Persistence of Escherichia coli O157 and non-O157 strains in agricultural soils. Sci Total Environ. 2014 490:822–829
Markosyan L, Vardanyan N, Paronyan AKH, Nikoghosyan VG, Delalio A (2002) Microflora and chemical characteristics of wastewater sludge. Biol J Armenia 54:31–41
Martens W, Fink A, Phillip W, Weber W, Winter D, Böhm R (1998) Inactivation of viral and bacterial pathogens in large scale slurry treatment plants. Proc RAMIRAN 98(8):529–539
Naganandhini S, John Kennedy Z, Uyttendaele M, Balachandar D (2015) Persistence of pathogenic and non-pathogenic Escherichia coli strains in various tropical agricultural soils of India. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130038. June 23, 2015
Pahren HR, Lucas JB, Ryan JA, Dotson GK (1979) Health risks associated with land application of municipal sludge. J Water Pollut Control Federatmn 51:2588–2601
Pickup RW, Rhodes G, Arnott S, Sidi-Boumedine K, Bull TJ, Weightman A, …, Hermon-Taylor J (2005) Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis in the catchment area and water of the River Taff in South Wales, United Kingdom, and its potential relationship to clustering of Crohn’s disease cases in the city of Cardiff. Appl Environ Microbiol 71(4):2130–2139
Poffe R, Op de Beek E (1991) Enumeration of Aeromonas hydrophila from domestic wastewater treatment plants and surface waters. J Appl Bacteriol 71:366–370
Ramteke PW, Pathak SP, Gautam AR, Bhattacherjee JW (1993) Association of Aeromonas caviae with sewage sludge pollution. Environ Sci Eng 28:859–870
Sahlstrom L, Aspan A, Bagge E, Danielsson-Tham ML, Albihn A (2004) Bacterial pathogen incidences in sludge from Swedish sewage treatment plants. Water Res 38:1989–1994
Stampi S, De Luca G, Varoli O, Zanetti F (1999) Occurrence, removal and seasonal variation of thermophilic campylobacters and Arcobacter in sewage sludge. Zentralbl Hyg Umweltmed 202(1):19–27
Stelzer W, Jacob J (1991) A study of Campylobacter in sewage, sewage sludge and in river water. Water Sci Technol 24(2):117–120
Straub TM, Pepper IL, Gerba CP (1993) Hazards from pathogenic microorganisms in land-disposed sewage sludge. Rev Environ Contam Toxicol 132:55–91
Strauch D (1991) Survival of pathogenic micro-organism and Parasities inexcreta, manure and sewage sludge. Rev Sci Techn Off Int Epiz 10:813–846
Strauch D (1998) Pathogenic micro-organisms in sludge. Anaerobic digestion and disinfection methods to make sludge usable as fertiliser. Eur Water Manag 2(2):12–26
Strauss M (2002) Human waste (Excreta and Waste water) reuse. Water Sci 15
Supakata N, Chunkao K (2011) Thickness of moist sludge piling from community wastewater treatment through the royal LERD technology for growing rice. J Agric Sci 3(3):93
Taormina PJ, Beuchat LR, Slutsker L (1999) Infections associated with eating seed sprouts: an international concern. Emerg Infect Dis 5(5):626
Toze S (1997) Microbial pathogens in wastewater. Literature review for urban water systems multi-divisional research program, Technical report no 1/97. CSIRO, Australia
U. S. EPA (1994) Standards for the use or disposal of sewage sludge. Environmental Protection Agency; 40 CFR Part 503. Fed Regist 58:9248–9415
U. S. EPA (2002) Onsite wastewater treatment systems design manual, EPA/625/R-00/008, Washington, DC. February 2002
U. S. EPA (2003) Control of pathogens and vector attraction in sewage sludge; 40 CFR Part 503. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnate
U. S. EPA, (2007) Pathogens, pathogen indicators and indicators of fecal contamination. Airlie Center, Warrenton, Virginiam U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Water, Office of Research and Development. EPA 823-R-07-006
Urdaci MC, Marchand M, Ageron E, Arcos JM, Sesma B, Grimont PA (1991) Vibrio navarrensis sp. nov., a species from sewage. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 41(2):290–294
Viswanathan P, Kaur R (2001) Prevalence and growth of pathogens on salad vegetables, fruits and sprouts. Int J Hyg Environ Health 203(3):205–213
Watkins J, Sleath KP (1981) Isolation and enumeration of Listeria monocytogenes from sewage, sewage sludge and river water. J Appl Microbiol 50(1):1–9
Weis J, Seeliger H (1975) Incidence of Listeria monocytogenes in nature. Appl Microbiol 30(1):29–32
Wen Q, Tutuka C, Keegan A, Jin B (2009) Fate of pathogenic microorganisms and indicators in secondary activated sludge wastewater treatment plants. J Environ Manag 90:1442–1447
WHO (1981) Health guidelines for the use of wastewater in agriculture and aquaculture. Technical report series, vol 778. World Health Organization, Geneva
Winfield M, Groisman E (2003) Role of nonhost environments in the lifestyles of Salmonella and Escherichia coli. Appl Environ Microbiol 69(7):3687–3694
Zhang T, Wang H, Wu L, Lou J, Wu J, Brookes PC (2013) Survival of Escherichia coli O157: H7 in soils from Jiangsu Province, China. PLoS One 8(12):e81178
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Al-Gheethi, A., Noman, E.A., Mohamed, R., Abdullah, A.H., Amir Hashim, M. (2019). Microbial Risk Associated with Application of Biosolids in Agriculture. In: Hussain, C. (eds) Handbook of Environmental Materials Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73645-7_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73645-7_26
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73644-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73645-7
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics