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Anand U, Li X, Sunita K, Lokhandwala S, Gautam P, Suresh S, Sarma H, Vellingiri B, Dey A, Bontempi E, Jiang G. SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in municipal wastewater, landfill leachate, and solid waste: A review about virus surveillance, infectivity, and inactivation. Environ Res 2022; 203:111839. [PMID: 34358502 PMCID: PMC8332740 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2021] [Revised: 07/15/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
This review discusses the techniques available for detecting and inactivating of pathogens in municipal wastewater, landfill leachate, and solid waste. In view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 is being given special attention, with a thorough examination of all possible transmission pathways linked to the selected waste matrices. Despite the lack of works focused on landfill leachate, a systematic review method, based on cluster analysis, allows to analyze the available papers devoted to sewage sludge and wastewater, allowing to focalize the work on technologies able to detect and treat pathogens. In this work, great attention is also devoted to infectivity and transmission mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, the literature analysis shows that sewage sludge and landfill leachate seem to have a remote chance to act as a virus transmission route (pollution-to-human transmission) due to improper collection and treatment of municipal wastewater and solid waste. However due to the incertitude about virus infectivity, these possibilities cannot be excluded and need further investigation. As a conclusion, this paper shows that additional research is required not only on the coronavirus-specific disinfection, but also the regular surveillance or monitoring of viral loads in sewage sludge, wastewater, and landfill leachate. The disinfection strategies need to be optimized in terms of dosage and potential adverse impacts like antimicrobial resistance, among many other factors. Finally, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogenic microorganisms in sewage sludge, wastewater, and landfill leachate can hamper the possibility to ensure safe water and public health in economically marginalized countries and hinder the realization of the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs).
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Affiliation(s)
- Uttpal Anand
- Department of Life Sciences and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel
| | - Xuan Li
- School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Australia
| | - Kumari Sunita
- Department of Botany, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, 273009, India
| | - Snehal Lokhandwala
- Department of Environmental Science & Technology, Shroff S.R. Rotary Institute of Chemical Technology, UPL University of Sustainable Technology, Ankleshwar, Gujarat, 393135, India
| | - Pratibha Gautam
- Department of Environmental Science & Technology, Shroff S.R. Rotary Institute of Chemical Technology, UPL University of Sustainable Technology, Ankleshwar, Gujarat, 393135, India
| | - S Suresh
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, 462 003, Madhya Pradesh, India
| | - Hemen Sarma
- Department of Botany, Nanda Nath Saikia College, Dhodar Ali, Titabar, 785630, Assam, India
| | - Balachandar Vellingiri
- Human Molecular Cytogenetics and Stem Cell Laboratory, Department of Human Genetics and Molecular Biology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, 641-046, India
| | - Abhijit Dey
- Department of Life Sciences, Presidency University, 86/1 College Street, Kolkata, 700073, West Bengal, India
| | - Elza Bontempi
- INSTM and Chemistry for Technologies Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, Via Branze, 38, 25123, Brescia, Italy.
| | - Guangming Jiang
- School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Australia; Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute (IHMRI), University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia.
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