Characteristics and origin of clogging-functional bacteria during managed aquifer recharge: A laboratory study

Owing to serious influences on well performance, bacteria-induced clogging has become a dilemma for managed aquifer recharge (MAR). During MAR, surface river water is inoculated into aquifer and mixed with groundwater. Therefore, the clogging-functional bacteria may originate from the river water or the groundwater. However, the origin of the clogging-functional bacteria in the aquifer has not yet been well understood. This study conducted a series of laboratory-scale column experiments involving different recharge modes (using river water, groundwater) to simulate the processes of bacteria-induced clogging and used the high-throughput sequencing technology, aiming to elucidate the community characteristics and the origin of the clogging-functional bacteria involved in MAR bioclogging. Analyses of the bacterial-community characteristics showed significant differences between the river water and groundwater. The bacterial-community characteristics of the clogging aquifer in the different recharge modes were similar to each other and have common genera, namely, Acinetobacter, Brevundimonas, Exiguobacterium, Porphyrobacter, Cloacibacterium, and Sphingobium, which suggests that MAR activity could promote bacterial communities to become identical during surface water infiltration into aquifers, despite differences in the bacterial communities present in the subsurface- and surface systems. This knowledge will assist greatly in targeted treatment and prophylaxis of clogging-functional bacteria during managed aquifer recharge. •Clogging occurred in all column experiments involving groundwater and river water.•Bacterial-community features in groundwater were different from those in river water.•Bacterial-community features of biofilms under different recharge modes were similar.•MAR activity might alter the bacterial community to become identical.