Bacterial population changes in hospital effluent treatment plant in central India

Hospital effluent with its high content of multidrug resistant (MDR) enterobacteria and the presence of enteric pathogens could pose a grave problem for the community. It was planned at our tertiary care hospital in central India to study the population changes at various steps of effluent treatment plant (ETP) like collection, aeration, clarification, liquid sludge, dried sludge, high-pressure filter and treated wastewater. The study included viable bacterial counts, coliform counts, staphylococcal, enterococcal, Pseudomonas and multiple drug resistant (MDR) gram negative bacterial counts in the different stages of ETP. In order to study the distribution of bacteria as free floating in liquid and adherent to suspended particles, enumeration of the bacteria in the filterate and the sediment was also carried out. The effluent input showed 55% of the 8.6 x 10(6)/ml bacteria as coliforms and E. coli which was a typical of fecal flora. The prevalence of MDR coliforms was 0.26%. The substantial reduction (> 3log) was seen for the effluent coming from the clarifier. The bulk of the bacteria in the hospital effluent remains firmly adhered to solid particles; aeration and clarification removes bulk of the bacteria by physical processes like flocculation. The treated liquid effluent still contains sizeable loads of MDR bacteria and inactivation by procedure such as chlorination is required. The bacteria get concentrated in sludge and a greater concentration of chlorine is required for decontamination.