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Early succession of biofilm bacterial communities in newly built drinking water pipelines via multi-area analysis

  • Environmental Biotechnology
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Abstract

Biofilms inhabiting pipeline walls are critical to drinking water quality and safety. With massive pipeline replacement underway, however, biofilm formation process in newly built pipes and its effects on water quality are unclear. Moreover, differences and connections between biofilms in newly built and old pipes are unknown. In this study, early succession (≤ 120 days) of biofilm bacterial communities (abundance and diversity) in upper, middle and bottom areas of a newly built cement-lined ductile iron pipeline were evaluated using improved Propella™ biofilm reactor and multi-area analysis. A comparison with old pipelines (grey cast iron, 10 years) was performed. In the newly built pipeline, the abundance of biofilm bacteria did not change significantly between 40 and 80 days, but increased significantly between 80 and 120 days. The biofilm bacterial abundance (per unit area) in the bottom area was always higher than that in the upper and middle areas. Based on alpha diversity index and PCoA results, biofilm bacterial community richness, diversity and composition did not change significantly during the 120-day operation. Besides, biofilm shedding from the walls of newly built pipeline significantly increased bacterial abundance in the outlet water. Opportunistic pathogen-containing genera, such as Burkholderia, Acinetobacter and Legionella, were identified in both water and biofilm samples from newly built pipelines. The comparison between new and old pipelines suggested a higher bacterial abundance per unit area at the middle and bottom areas in old pipelines. Moreover, the bacterial community composition of biofilms in old pipelines was similar to that of newly built pipelines. These results contribute to accurate prediction and management of biofilm microbial communities in drinking water pipelines, ensuring the biosafety of drinking water.

Key Points

• Biofilm bacterial communities in different areas of pipe wall were revealed.

• The abundance of biofilm bacteria increased significantly between 80 and 120 days.

• Biofilm bacterial community compositions of newly built and old pipes were similar.

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Data availability

All data of this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 52000032]; Fuzhou Water Supply Co., Ltd. and Fuzhou Water Quality Monitoring Co., Ltd. [grant number GY-H-21258]; the Research Start-up Funds of Fujian University of Technology [grant number GY-Z17075]; and the Research Funds of **jiang Fuzhou University Science Park [grant number 2019-JJFDKY-07].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fujian Provincial Engineering Research Center of Rural Waste Recycling Technology, College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Fuzhou University, No.2 Wulongjiangbei Road, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    **aochen Chen, Liang **ao & Fengbing Yao

  2. Center of Safe and Energy-Saving Engineering Technology for Urban Water Supply and Drainage System, School of Ecological Environment and Urban Construction, Fujian University of Technology, No.33 Xuefunan Road, Fuzhou, 350118, China

    Jia Niu

  3. Fuzhou Water Supply Co, Ltd., No.104 Dongjie, Fuzhou, 350001, China

    Yue Wang, **aomin Zhang & Longcong Gong

  4. Fuzhou Water Quality Monitoring Co., Ltd, No.104 Dongjie, Fuzhou, 350001, China

    Yue Wang & **aomin Zhang

  5. College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou University, No.2 Wulongjiangbei Road, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Kaiqin Xu

  6. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Onogawa 16-2, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan

    Kaiqin Xu

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  1. **aochen Chen
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  4. Yue Wang
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Contributions

XC conceived, designed and performed research, and wrote the paper. LX performed research, contributed new methods, analyzed data, and wrote the paper. JN conceived, designed and performed research, contributed new methods, and wrote the paper. YW and XZ analyzed data. LG conceived research. FY performed research and analyzed data. KX conceived research and wrote the paper. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jia Niu.

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Chen, X., **ao, L., Niu, J. et al. Early succession of biofilm bacterial communities in newly built drinking water pipelines via multi-area analysis. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 107, 3817–3828 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-023-12517-0

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