A virus could help save billions of gallons of wastewater produced by fracking

An estimated 168 billion gallons of wastewater -- or produced water -- is generated annually by the Permian Basin fracking industry, according to a 2022 report by the Texas Produced Water Consortium. The major waste stream has proved both difficult and costly to treat because of the chemical complexity of the water.

In a new study published in the journal Water, researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have identified a novel means of treating the wastewater generated by oil and gas production: bacteriophages.

Ramón Antonio Sánchez, a doctoral candidate within UTEP's chemistry program, is the first author on the publication, detailing how bacteriophages, viruses that are often highly specific and lethal to a single species of bacteria, can be used as a rapid and cost-effective method to treat produced water on an industrial scale.

Sánchez said if the work is successful, it would give the oil and gas industry a means of treating, reusing and recycling produced water, rather than the current industry practice of disposing the majority of produced water by injecting it into the ground post oil exploration.

The research focuses on two of the most prominent bacteria found within produced water across the oil and gas industry -- Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus megaterium. P. aeruginosa has the ability to corrode stainless steel and presents a challenge for the longevity of pipelines and other metal-based infrastructure, while B. megaterium, can decompose hydrocarbons -- the basis for oil.

Sánchez, along with one of his collaborators, Zacariah Hildenbrand, Ph.D., a UTEP alum, were inspired to use bacteriophages based on their applications in the medical industry, where they are used to combat infections caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria.

"Since the bacteria are living organisms, over time they developed a resistance, in the form of a less penetrable membrane, to traditional disinfectants," Sánchez explained. "But the bacteriophages, which are viruses themselves, attach to specific receptors on the surface of the host cell and evolve alongside the bacteria they are trying to infect, meaning that any resistance acquired by the bacteria triggers the modification of bacteriophages to keep the infection going."

The team's experiments with bacteriophages have been effective, achieving the inactivation of both P. aeruginosa and B. megaterium in laboratory settings. For Sánchez, who graduates this spring with his Ph.D., the work will continue in the industry where his focus will be on replicating his laboratory results out in the field. He will also try to expand the number of microorganisms that can be treated in produced water by securing a larger catalog of bacteriophages.

Read more at Science Daily

Wastewater pipe dig reveals 'fossil treasure trove'

A new New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics paper out today describes the 266 fossil species as one of the richest and most diverse groups of three-million-year-old fauna ever found in New Zealand. At least ten previously unknown species will be described and named in future research.

Fossil treasure trove from Auckland's Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant

In 2020, when Auckland's Watercare were excavating two huge vertical shafts for a major upgrade of the major pipeline that brings raw sewage for treatment from the central city they dug through an ancient shell bed. Auckland paleontologist Bruce Hayward likened it to "finding gold right on your door step." Once they were informed of the fossil deposit's significance, Watercare and their contractors were eager to help and a huge heap of shelly sand was dumped in a nearby paddock so that paleontologists could search through it over many months. Watercare also funded two paleontology graduate students, working under the supervision of Auckland Museum curator Dr Wilma Blom, to painstakingly sift through the heap for many weeks. As a result, it is estimated that over 300,000 fossils were examined and several thousand have been returned in the museum as a record of this "once-in-a-lifetime find."

"Detailed identification of the fossils shows that they were deposited between 3 and 3.7 million years ago in a subtidal channel in an early version of the modern Manukau Harbour," said Dr Hayward. "At that time, sea level was slightly higher than it is today as the world was also several degrees warmer than now. As a result, the fossils include a number of subtropical species, whose relatives today live in the warmer waters around the Kermadec and Norfolk islands. At least ten previously unknown species are present and will be described and named in future work."

In their scientific paper that appeared this week in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, the five authors record 266 different fossil species, making it the richest and most diverse fauna of its age ever found in New Zealand. "What is surprising," says lead author Dr Hayward "is that the fauna contains fossils that lived in many different environments that have been brought together in the ancient marine channel by wave action and strong tidal currents. It includes ten specimens of the iconic NZ flax snail that must have lived on the adjacent land and been washed down into the sea by storm runoff. These are by far the oldest known flax snails in the world. Most of the fossils lived on the sea floor, some in brackish estuaries, others attached to hard rocky shorelines and still more have been carried in from offshore of the exposed west coast at the time."

Read more at Science Daily

Even treated wastewater affects our rivers

Effluents from wastewater treatment plants have a dual effect: Some species disappear, while others benefit. Especially certain insect orders, such as stonefly and caddisfly larvae, are decimated. Certain worms and crustaceans, by contrast, can increase in number. A team from Goethe University Frankfurt led by Daniel Enns and Dr. Jonas Jourdan has corroborated this in a comprehensive study, which has now been published in the journal Water Research. They examined 170 wastewater treatment plants in Hesse in relation to species composition.

Wastewater treatment plants are an indispensable part of our modern infrastructure; they have made a significant contribution to improving the quality of our surface waters. However, their ability to completely remove what are known as micropollutants from wastewater is mostly limited. These substances include, for example, active ingredients from pharmaceuticals and personal care products, pesticides and other synthetic substances enter waterbodies via the treated wastewater, placing an additional burden on rivers and streams. This exacerbates the challenges faced by already vulnerable insect communities and aquatic fauna. Previous studies -- which have primarily focused on single wastewater treatment plants -- have already shown that invertebrate communities downstream of such effluents are generally dominated by pollution-tolerant taxa.

Until now, however, it was unclear how ubiquitous these changes are. That is why a team of biologists from Goethe University Frankfurt has now studied extensively how wastewater from 170 wastewater treatment plants in Hesse has an impact on the species composition of invertebrates. This has prompted a change in the common conception that human-induced stressors reduce the number of species in a habitat and thus their diversity: Rather, the findings indicate that a shift in species composition can be observed. The researchers were able to identify significant shifts in the composition of the species community between sites located upstream and downstream of wastewater treatment plants. Some species were particularly affected by effluents from wastewater treatment plants -- such as stonefly and caddisfly larvae, which disappear entirely in some places. Other taxa, such as certain worms and crustaceans, by contrast, benefit and are found in greater numbers. This change can be observed especially in streams and smaller rivers. Overall, wastewater treatment plants alter conditions downstream to the advantage of pollution-tolerant taxa and to the disadvantage of sensitive ones.

Read more at Science Daily

Reliably measuring oxygen deficiency in rivers or lakes

 When wastewater from villages and cities flows into rivers and lakes, large quantities of fats, proteins, sugars and other carbon-containing, organic substances wind up in nature together with the fecal matter. These organic substances are broken down by bacteria that consume oxygen. The larger the volume of wastewater, the better the bacteria thrive. This, however, means the oxygen content of the water continues to decrease until finally the fish, muscles or worms literally run out of air. This has created low-oxygen death zones in many rivers and lakes around the world.

No gold standard for measurements until now

In order to measure how heavily the waters are polluted with organic matter from feces, government bodies and environmental researchers regularly take water samples. One widely used measurement method uses a chemical reaction to determine the content of organic substances. As an international team of scientists now shows, this established method provides values from which the actual degree of the water pollution can hardly be derived. Prof. Helmuth Thomas, Director of Hereon's Institute of Carbon Cycles is also a contributor to the study, which has now been published in the scientific journal Science Advances. "In the paper, we are therefore also introducing a new method for making the measurements much more reliable in the future," he says.

Using the conventional measurement method, water samples are mixed with the chemicals permanganate or dichromate. These are especially reactive and break down all organic substances in a short time. The quantity of consumed permanganates or dichromates can then be used to determine how much organic substance was contained in the water sample. Experts refer to this measurement as "chemical oxygen demand," COD. The problem with the COD measurements is that they do not differentiate between the organic substances that wind up in the water with the sewage, and those that arise naturally -- such as lignin and humic acids -- which are released when wood decays. This means that the water pollution can hardly be distinguished from the natural content of organic substances. "For the Han River in South Korea, for example, we have shown that the pollution with organic substances from wastewater in the past twenty-five years has decreased. The COD measurements, however, still show high values as they were before," says Helmuth Thomas, "because here the natural substances make up a large portion of the organic matter in the water."

Complicated biological analysis

But how can the actual pollution be measured more reliably? A biological measurement method has been established here for decades, but it is much more complex than the COD method and is therefore used more seldomly by government bodies and research institutions. In this case, a water sample is taken from the river or lake and the oxygen content of the water is measured as an initial value. Another "parallel sample" is immediately sealed airtight. Then this water sample rests for five days. During this time, the bacteria break down the organic substance, whereby they gradually consume the oxygen in the water. After five days, the container is opened and the oxygen is measured. If the water contains a great deal of organic matter, then the bacteria were particularly active. The oxygen consumption was then correspondingly high. Experts refer to the "biological oxygen demand" (BOD) in this measurement. "The BOD measurement is far more precise than the COD because the bacteria preferentially break down the small organic molecules from the wastewater but leave the natural ones, such as lignin, untouched," says Thomas. Nevertheless, the BOD measurement has its disadvantages, too. On the one hand, the BOD measurement takes five days, while the COD value is available after a few minutes. On the other, while filling, storing and measuring the water samples, meticulous care must be taken to ensure that no oxygen from the ambient air winds up in the sample and falsifies the measurement value. "Only a few people with a great deal of laboratory experience have mastered how to entirely handle the BOD measurement," says Thomas. "Therefore, government bodies and researchers even today still prefer the COD despite its greater uncertainties."

Read more at Science Daily

Sewage study shows which countries like to party hard

 Despite deaths and hospitalisations linked to many new psychoactive substances (NPS), an international wastewater study led by the University of South Australia shows just how prevalent 'party pills' and 'bath salts' are in different parts of the world.

In a new paper published in Water Research, the world's most comprehensive wastewater analysis of NPS shows the pattern of designer drug use in the 2019/2020 New Year in 14 sites across Australia, New Zealand, China, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Norway and the United States.

UniSA analytical chemist Dr Richard Bade says samples were collected over the New Year in each country and shipped to South Australia for analysis.

More than 200 synthetic drugs across all countries were monitored and 16 substances found.

"Of the eight countries studied, only Norway showed no traces of NPS," he says.

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a range of drugs that have been designed to mimic established illicit drugs, such as cannabis, cocaine, MDMA and LSD.

"The Netherlands recorded the highest usage, followed by Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Spain, Italy and China had the lowest incidence of designer drug use in cities participating in the study."

N-ethylpentylone, which is known to cause fatalities, was seen in Australia, New Zealand and the US. It has previously been detected in forensic samples and at music festivals in Australia and New Zealand.

Another designer drug called mephedrone (often referred to as drone, M-CAT, White Magic and meow meow), was found only in Australia and New Zealand, with the latter country recording a 20-fold spike in usage on New Year's Eve.

"It is a very powerful drug that produces effects similar to those of cocaine and MDMA and is popular among ecstasy and simulant users in Australia and NZ," Dr Bade says.

The Netherlands recorded traces of six of 10 quantifiable drugs. Seven additional recreational drugs were also identified in the samples after screening.

Of these, ketamine (a human and veterinary anaesthetic) and its metabolite, norketamine, were found in every country.

A newer drug on the market -- eutylone -- was seen in Australia, New Zealand, the US and The Netherlands. Warnings were issued in 2020 that this designer drug was being incorrectly marketed as MDMA in New Zealand due to its visual similarity to the latter. High doses of it have been linked to intense and particularly dangerous side effects.

Traces of mitragynine, a drug involved in almost half of NPS-related deaths in 2019, were found only in the United States.

Another synthetic opioid, acetyl fentanyl, was also restricted to US wastewater samples. It is also linked to high fatalities in that country.

Of all the drugs, methcathinone was detected in seven countries, followed by N- ethylpentylone and 3-MMC (in three countries each).

"What makes the NPS so dangerous is that they were originally sold as legal alternatives to conventional illicit drugs such as ecstasy and cannabis, suggesting they were safe when, in fact, there was very little information about their toxicity," Dr Bade says.

"Governments soon intervened after hospitalisations and fatalities were linked to these class of drugs with some countries enforcing blanket bans. However, despite these bans, NPS are still synthesised, transported and consumed across the world, often with fatal consequences."

Read more at Science Daily