Biological treatment of domestic wastewater by Escherichia coli.

Abstract

The current study indicates the ability of using Escherichia coli to reduce some of the pollutants present in the wastewater used from the final sedimentation basins of the AL Muthanna wastewater treatment plant. Bacteria were isolated from the desired location and identified using chromogenic urinary tract infection (UTI) agar to produce drack blue colonies. The experiments were conducted in the laboratory. Escherichia coli was used and added to polluted water that had previously been sterilized by an autoclave. To demonstrate its ability to remove some contaminants, some physical and chemical factors were estimated after sterile contaminated water and bacteria in the incubator under ideal conditions. The results showed that PH slightly tended toward alkaline and that the values of electrical conductivity, salinity ,total alkalinity, nitrates and nitrites was low. While the bacteria showed high efficiency in reducing total hardness, calcium, ,magnesium and phosphate. As for ammonia, their values increased after treatment. The result showed the effective role of bacteria in reducing the value of both zinc and copper after water treatment. As for iron ,bacteria did not show any efficiency in reducing it throughout the treatment period.