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Soil microorganisms can be classified as bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae and protozoa. Each of these groups has characteristics that define them and their functions in soil. [6] [7] Up to 10 billion bacterial cells inhabit each gram of soil in and around plant roots, a region known as the rhizosphere.
Sewage treatment plants mix these organisms as activated sludge or circulate water past organisms living on trickling filters or rotating biological contactors. [5] Aquatic vegetation may provide similar surface habitat for purifying bacteria, protozoa, and rotifers in a pond or marsh setting; although water circulation is often less effective.
These biological treatment systems effectively reduce water-borne diseases, dissolved organic carbon, turbidity and color in surface water, thus improving overall water quality. Biotechnological techniques can be used to improve the biofiltration of drinking water by studying the microbial communities in the water.
Soil biology is the study of microbial and faunal activity and ecology in soil. Soil life, soil biota, soil fauna, or edaphon is a collective term that encompasses all organisms that spend a significant portion of their life cycle within a soil profile, or at the soil-litter interface.
The choice of method will depend on the quality of the water being treated, the cost of the treatment process and the quality standards expected of the processed water. The processes below are the ones commonly used in water purification plants. Some or most may not be used depending on the scale of the plant and quality of the raw (source) water.
Landfarming, or land treatment, is a method commonly used for sludge spills. This method disperses contaminated soil and aerates the soil by cyclically rotating. [30] This process is an above land application and contaminated soils are required to be shallow in order for microbial activity to be stimulated.
The final output from anaerobic digestion systems is water, which originates both from the moisture content of the original waste that was treated and water produced during the microbial reactions in the digestion systems. This water may be released from the dewatering of the digestate or may be implicitly separate from the digestate.
The surface biofilm is the layer that provides the effective purification in potable water treatment, the underlying sand providing the support medium for this biological treatment layer. As water passes through the hypogeal layer, particles of foreign matter are trapped in the mucilaginous matrix and soluble organic material is adsorbed. The ...