Fate of virus in wastewater applied to slow-infiltration land treatment systems

The removal of seeded coliphage f2 and indigenous enteroviruses from primary and secondary wastewaters applied by spray irrigation to sandy loam and silt loam soils in field test cells was examined. The amount of f2 recovered from 170-cm-deep soil percolate samples taken over a 53-day period never exceeded 0.1% of applied virus levels and was usually below detection limits. Indigenous enterovirus levels in percolate waters also constituted only a small portion of those found in the wastewaters. At 10 days after seeding, f2 virus was present throughout the soil column but tended to accumulate around the soil core middepths. Coliphage f2 disappeared from the soil surface regions at a high rate, and by 53 days very little virus could be detected within the length of the soil columns. Sterilized soil core segments from different depths were studied to determine their virus adsorption capabilities when suspended in either wastewater, test cell percolate water, or distilled water containing divalent cations. The adsorptive capacity of Windsor and Charlton soils for poliovirus 1 and coliphage f2 increased greatly with the soil sample depth until leveling off at the midcore depths. Soil suspended in wastewater had the least virus adsorption capability for all depths studied.