Microbial Diversity in Wastewater Sources and Biological Activated Sludge System

Wastewater sources serve as a unique ecosystem with microbial composition determined by the diverse contaminants present in the wastewater. The diverse contaminants and associated microbial communities may influence the microbial composition of the biological activated sludge (BAS) adopted in the treatment of wastewater. Hence, there is the need to constantly monitor the microbial communities of the wastewater sources and the BAS system to ensure the adoption of the best design and microbial composition of the BAS. Members of microbial communities belonging to the Betaproteobacteria are known to dominate the BAS and play crucial roles in the removal of contaminants. The current review aggregated information on the microbial composition of different wastewater sources. The microbial diversity of BAS is also presented together with the use of next generation sequencing (NGS) in the advancement of the microbial community’s identification in BAS. Based on the collated information, beneficial microbes in the BAS have been identified, and the use of NGS platform has shown to be a promising tool. More studies are imperative to evaluate the microbial diversities of wastewater sources/BAS as there is a possibility of the involvement of novel microbes detrimental to human health due to genetic mutations.