Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2004OH9B

Evaluating the Utility of Fluorescence In Situ Hybridizations as a Regular Process Monitoring Tool to Improve Reliable Wastewater Treatment

Institute: Ohio
Year Established: 2004 Start Date: 2004-03-01 End Date: 2005-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $25,190 Total Non-Federal Funds: $52,401

Principal Investigators: Daniel Oerther, Daniel Oerther

Project Summary: The microorganisms in the aeration basin are the most important yet least monitored part of a municipal activated sludge sewage treatment plant. Primarily, this is due to the inability of traditional monitoring technology to identify and quantify individual groups of microorganisms in a timely fashion. Therefore, we propose to develop base-line data demonstrating the value of regular process monitoring using a modern genetic tool - fluorescence in situ hybridization (a.k.a. FISH) - to track activated sludge microorganisms in municipal sewage treatment plants operated to remove solids, organics, and excess nitrogen. We expect that the information collected using FISH will empower plant operators to diagnose, alleviate, and most importantly avoid treatment process upsets. With the knowledge gained in this project, the water quality community will be able to move toward adopting state-of-the-art microbial treatment process monitoring technology with confidence. Ultimately this will lead to improved treatment process performance and enhanced protection of environmental water quality, which is a critical component for protecting raw water supplies identified as a research priority by the U.S. Geological Survey.