Occurrence and fate of potential pathogenic bacteria as revealed by pyrosequencing in a full-scale membrane bioreactor treating restaurant wastewater

One of the primary concerns on wastewater reuse is the presence of pathogenic bacteria. Considering that indicator bacteria might only offer limited information, we applied high-throughput pyrosequencing in this study to reveal bacterial pathogen diversity in a full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) treating restaurant wastewater. The results showed that fecal indicator bacteria could provide a rough estimation rather than an accurate characterization of the potential pathogenic bacteria in wastewaters, particularly from non-fecal sources. In general, MBR treatment showed good removal of potential pathogenic bacteria. The bacterial count of Arcobacterwas decreased by nearly seven orders of magnitude, from (8.35 plus or minus 0.87) 10 super(7) to 99% to the neighbor pathogenic species, including Arcobacter butzleriand Arcobacter cryaerophilus. This study, therefore, provides insights into the occurrence and fate of potential bacterial pathogens in restaurant wastewater treatment and reclamation using MBRs.