Removal capacities of wastewater treatment plants to minimize spread of enteroviruses

The enteroviruses such as <i>Adenovirus</i>, <i>Enterovirus</i>, Hepatitis A virus, <i>Norovirus</i>, and <i>Rotavirus</i> are mostly transmitted via water and are commonly seen in Turkey. Due to lack of regulations for monitoring these viruses at the discharge points of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), the discharges reach to surface waters causing water-borne diseases. This emphasizes the importance of WWTPs' removal capacities to minimize the spread of enteroviruses. To evaluate the removal capacities of enteroviruses, five different types of WWTPs from Ankara-Turkey were investigated over a year. Seasonal abundances of enterovirus-specific genes in both influents and effluents from each WWTP were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The reduction of enteroviral nucleic acids in the effluent wastewater samples compared to the influent wastewater samples was assessed as the removal capacity in log¹⁰ reduction values (LRVs). The qPCR results revealed that among five different types of WWTPs tested, membrane bioreactors effectively removed <i>Adenovirus</i> alone with LRVs more than 3. The removal of <i>Enterovirus</i>, Hepatitis A virus, <i>Norovirus</i>, and <i>Rotavirus</i> in WWTPs with varying processes was below LRV 3.