Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
Volume 29, Issue 36, Pages 54561-54570Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-19588-y
Keywords
Agricultural reuse; Gastroenteritis; Illness risk; Human adenovirus; Wastewater
Categories
Funding
- Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) [97001735]
- Isfahan University of Medical Sciences [397801]
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This study investigates the occurrence of human adenovirus (HAdV) in the irrigation water-soil-crop continuum and finds that wastewater-irrigated vegetables pose a higher risk to human health. Stricter management of wastewater reuse is necessary to ensure human health.
Because of health concerns regarding the presence of enteric viruses in wastewater effluents, this study was designed to investigate the occurrence of human adenovirus (HAdV) in the irrigation water-soil-crop continuum. Viral particles were extracted from wastewater and wastewater- or water-irrigated soil and crop samples and analyzed using real-time PCR. Concentration of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) were also determined. Quantitative microbial risk assessment was performed to determine the HAdV illness risk associated with the consumption of wastewater-irrigated vegetables. HAdV-F was detected in 74% of wastewater effluent samples with a mean concentration of 38 Genomic Copy (GC)/mL. HAdV was also detected in wastewater-irrigated soil (2 x 10(2) GC/g) and crop (< 10 GC/g) samples, with no statistically significant difference in concentrations between wastewater- and freshwater-irrigated samples. The results showed no correlation between concentrations of FIB and HAdV in the analyzed samples. Mean probability of illness risk from consumption of wastewater-irrigated vegetables was 4 x 10(-1) per person per year (pppy) which was about two orders of magnitude higher than the proposed value by WHO (10(-3) pppy) for safe reuse of wastewater. This finding suggests that the wastewater reuse for irrigation of vegetables eaten raw could pose a threat to human health with respect to the risk of viral illness, signifying stricter management of wastewater reuse. However, because of uncertainties in the QMRA model, particularly the ratio of infectious to non-infectious virus particles, more data is required to validate the predicted risk. This information is especially important in arid and semi-arid regions where high temperatures, UV radiation intensity, and desiccation can efficiently inactivate microorganisms in the environment.
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