Justyna Zamorska

STUDYING MICROBIOLOGY OF RAIN WATER FOR OF THEIR USE IN ECONOMY

Growing areas of sealed surfaces, rising water needs due to industry development, increasing populations, and climatic changes affect precipitation patterns and form a vision of the future in which meteoric water storage may become almost an obligatory activity. The aim of this paper was to identify the amounts and, to some degree, the quality of microorganisms present in rainwater collected from different types of rooftops of utility buildings in the spring-summer season. Apart from the classic culture plate method complemented by flow cytometry. The results of performed analyses explicitly show that rainwater collected from rooftops and directly from air prove to be microbially contaminated to a substantial degree, which includes pathogenic coliforms and faecal streptococci. Waters collected after dry periods also contained bacteria like Clostridium perfingens. The findings rule out the possibility of using rainwater collected from roof surfaces of utility buildings before its treatment.

A Preliminary Study Into the Possibility of δ13C Being Used as a Sensitive Indicator of the Trophic and Hydrobiological Status of Aquatic Ecosystems

There is a need to search for additional indicators allowing for more accurate identification of both the trophic status of waters as well as its chemical and biological consequences. The work detailed in this paper involved a preliminary analysis pertaining to the possibility of using an isotopic index in association with the values for trophic and saprobic indicators in describing a dam reservoir experiencing a far-reaching eutrophication. The water samples for the physicochemical analysis were collected from three sites along the axis of the dam reservoir in Rzeszów three times during the spring and summer of 2013. The results sustained the classification of the Reservoir’s waters as hypertrophic, irrespective of the particular zone sampled. While phytoplankton blooms characterised by reference to the numbers of organisms per unit volume of water were also similar throughout the Reservoir, diversification in terms of taxonomic composition was to be noted, given the occurrence of cyanobacteria among the dominant diatoms in the area close to the dam. This presence was accompanied by enrichment of the Reservoir’s suspended organic matter with carbon of the heavier 13C isotope. On this basis, the δ13C isotopic index can be regarded as a potentially useful indicator allowing for more accurate identification of both the level and the nature of the ongoing trophic degradation in bodies of water.

Biological Stability of Water after the Biofiltration Process

One of the most frequently implemented processes in the water treatment technology is filtration through a biosorption bed. The techniques based on biochemical processes involving bacteria result in obtaining high quality of water. There are a number of different materials used as the filler material for biological filters. Carbon deposits are the most popular, due to their high effectiveness. The problem with the use of this process is the leaching of microorganisms from the biofilm and the biological stability of water thus obtained. There is a need to develop quick methods to assess the microbiological quality of this water. Modern techniques for determining the amount of microorganisms, such as flow cytometry and luminometry may be the right tools. The water collected for testing came from the Water Treatment Station located in the Podkarpackie voivodeship. The microbiological tests carried out in the analyzed water samples collected after the filtration process on granular activated carbon. Both traditional culture method and modern techniques used to determine the number of microorganisms (flow cytometry, luminometric ATP assay) demonstrated an increase in the number of microorganisms in the examined waters (in the water after the filtration process and in the water introduced into the water supply network) after the incubation process for 3 and 7 days at 15 and 22°C.