Wastewater Renovation and Reuse: Virus Removal by Soil Filtration

Secondary sewage effluent and renovated water from four wells at the Flushing Meadows Wastewater Renovation Project near Phoenix, Arizona, in operation since 1967, were assayed approximately every 2 months in 1974 for viruses during flooding periods. Viruses, regularly found in the secondary effluent, were not detected in any renovated water samples. Our results indicated that human viral pathogens do not move through soil into the groundwater, but are apparently absorbed and degraded by the soil and reduced in numbers by a factor of at least 10(4) (99.99 percent removal).