Impact of wastewater treatment upgrade and nitrogen removal on bacterial communities and their interactions in eutrophic prairie streams

Eutrophication can impact bacteria by altering fluxes and processing of nutrients and organic matter. However, relatively little is known of how bacterial communities, diversity, and interactions with phytoplankton might respond to nutrient management. We used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to compare bacterial assemblages in the water column upstream (control) and downstream (impact) of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located on a eutrophic prairie stream. Sampling occurred before (2012) and after (2018) the 2016 biological nutrient removal (BNR) upgrade that removed >90% of nitrogen (N, mainly NH4+). Multivariate ordination suggested that effluent-impacted bacterial communities were associated mainly with elevated NH4+ concentrations before the upgrade, whereas those after BNR were characteristic of reference systems (low NO3-, diverse regulation). Genera such as Betaproteobacteria and Rhodocyclacea were abundant at impacted sites in 2012, whereas Flavobacterium and a potential pathogen (Legionella) were common at impacted sites in 2018. Nitrifier bacteria (Nitrospira and Nitrosomonas) were present but rare at all sites in 2012, but recorded only downstream of the WWTP in 2018. Generalized additive models showed that BNR reduced bacterial diversity, with similar to 70% of the deviance in diversity explained by hydrology, pH, nutrients, and phytoplankton abundance. Overall, NH4+ removal reduced symptoms of cultural eutrophication in microbe assemblages.

Automated summary

Eutrophication can alter the composition and diversity of bacterial communities in water bodies. This study used 16S rRNA sequencing to compare bacterial assemblages before and after a biological nutrient removal (BNR) upgrade in a eutrophic prairie stream. The results showed that the upgrade reduced bacterial diversity and mitigated symptoms of cultural eutrophication in the microbial communities.