Occurrence of Human Enteric Viruses Present in Ontario CP2 Biosolids – Implications for Land Application in Ontario

Abstract

In Ontario, CP2 biosolids produced through the treatment of sludge collected from municipal wastewater are land applied as a soil amendment. This allows for the repurposing of non- agricultural source material as a sustainable alternative to inorganic fertilizers, and addresses storage concerns for an increasingly abundant material. To provide insight into the detection of enteric pathogens in municipal biosolids, human adenovirus, rotavirus, and norovirus were examined through qPCR in liquid and dewatered cake biosolids, sampled from 10 wastewater treatment facilities in Southern Ontario between May 2018 – June 2019. All three target pathogens were found to be present in municipal biosolids in all months, ranging from 104-109 copies per g/dw or 100mL, but no seasonal trends were detected. To our knowledge, this is the first Ontario study to confirm positive detection of adenovirus, rotavirus, and norovirus in CP2 biosolids, which addresses gaps in virus detection of this material.