P. Niquette et al., Impacts of pipe materials on densities of fixed bacterial biomass in a drinking water distribution system, WATER RES, 34(6), 2000, pp. 1952-1956
Densities of fixed bacterial biomass were measured on different pipe materi
als (PVC, PE, cemented steel, asbestos-cement, cemented cast iron, tarred s
teel and grey iron) incubated in drinking waters from different sources (gr
ound waters and a surface water) which had different characteristics (tempe
rature, concentration of residual oxidant and content of biodegradable orga
nic matter). Results showed that the densities of bacterial biomass fixed o
n plastic-based materials (PE and PVC) were the lowest. Densities of bacter
ial biomass fixed on gray iron were from 10 to 45 times higher than those m
easured on plastic-based materials. Cement-based materials had intermediate
values. Pairs of cement and PVC coupons were incubated at 15 different loc
ations in a distribution system, and there was a strong correlation between
the amount of fixed bacterial biomass on these coupons, with the cement co
ntaining 2.6 times more biomass. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.