Cargando…

Water-Transmitted Fungi Are Involved in Degradation of Concrete Drinking Water Storage Tanks

Global warming, globalization, industrialization, and the rapidly growing population at present increasingly affect the production of safe drinking water. In combination with sustainable bio-based or recycled materials, used for water distribution systems, these factors promote emerging pathogens, i...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Novak Babič, Monika, Gunde-Cimerman, Nina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7828128/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33445679
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010160
_version_ 1783640933931155456
author Novak Babič, Monika
Gunde-Cimerman, Nina
author_facet Novak Babič, Monika
Gunde-Cimerman, Nina
author_sort Novak Babič, Monika
collection PubMed
description Global warming, globalization, industrialization, and the rapidly growing population at present increasingly affect the production of safe drinking water. In combination with sustainable bio-based or recycled materials, used for water distribution systems, these factors promote emerging pathogens, including fungi. They can proliferate in oligotrophic water systems, affect the disinfection process, degrade building materials, and cause diseases in humans. In this study, we explored fungal-based degradation of modern concrete water storage tanks and the presence of fungi in chlorinated drinking water at the entrance and exit of the tanks. The degradation potential of isolated 52 fungal strains and their growth at different oligotrophic conditions was tested in vitro. Forty percent of strains grew at extremely oligotrophic conditions, and 50% classified as aerophilic. Two-thirds of tested strains produced acids, with Penicillium strains as the best producers. Only 29.7% of the strains were able to grow at 37 °C, and none of them was isolated from drinking water at consumers’ taps. Although not yet part of the guidelines for building materials in contact with drinking water, fungi should be taken into consideration in case of visible degradation. Their number of consumers’ endpoints should be checked to exclude possible health risks for consumers.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7828128
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-78281282021-01-25 Water-Transmitted Fungi Are Involved in Degradation of Concrete Drinking Water Storage Tanks Novak Babič, Monika Gunde-Cimerman, Nina Microorganisms Article Global warming, globalization, industrialization, and the rapidly growing population at present increasingly affect the production of safe drinking water. In combination with sustainable bio-based or recycled materials, used for water distribution systems, these factors promote emerging pathogens, including fungi. They can proliferate in oligotrophic water systems, affect the disinfection process, degrade building materials, and cause diseases in humans. In this study, we explored fungal-based degradation of modern concrete water storage tanks and the presence of fungi in chlorinated drinking water at the entrance and exit of the tanks. The degradation potential of isolated 52 fungal strains and their growth at different oligotrophic conditions was tested in vitro. Forty percent of strains grew at extremely oligotrophic conditions, and 50% classified as aerophilic. Two-thirds of tested strains produced acids, with Penicillium strains as the best producers. Only 29.7% of the strains were able to grow at 37 °C, and none of them was isolated from drinking water at consumers’ taps. Although not yet part of the guidelines for building materials in contact with drinking water, fungi should be taken into consideration in case of visible degradation. Their number of consumers’ endpoints should be checked to exclude possible health risks for consumers. MDPI 2021-01-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7828128/ /pubmed/33445679 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010160 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Novak Babič, Monika
Gunde-Cimerman, Nina
Water-Transmitted Fungi Are Involved in Degradation of Concrete Drinking Water Storage Tanks
title Water-Transmitted Fungi Are Involved in Degradation of Concrete Drinking Water Storage Tanks
title_full Water-Transmitted Fungi Are Involved in Degradation of Concrete Drinking Water Storage Tanks
title_fullStr Water-Transmitted Fungi Are Involved in Degradation of Concrete Drinking Water Storage Tanks
title_full_unstemmed Water-Transmitted Fungi Are Involved in Degradation of Concrete Drinking Water Storage Tanks
title_short Water-Transmitted Fungi Are Involved in Degradation of Concrete Drinking Water Storage Tanks
title_sort water-transmitted fungi are involved in degradation of concrete drinking water storage tanks
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7828128/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33445679
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9010160
work_keys_str_mv AT novakbabicmonika watertransmittedfungiareinvolvedindegradationofconcretedrinkingwaterstoragetanks
AT gundecimermannina watertransmittedfungiareinvolvedindegradationofconcretedrinkingwaterstoragetanks