Comparison of microbial communities across sections of a corroding sewer pipe and the effects of wastewater flooding

Barry I. Cayford, Guangming Jiang, Jurg Keller, Gene Tyson, Philip L. Bond

This study investigated the variation in microbially induced concrete corrosion communities at different circumferential locations of a real sewer pipe and the effects of a wastewater flooding event on the community. Three distinct microbial community groups were found in different corrosion samples. The physico-chemical properties of the corrosion layers and the microbial communities were distinct for the cross-sectional positions within the pipe, ie ceiling, wall and tidal zones. The microbial communities detected from the same positions in the pipe were consistent over the length of the pipe, as well as being consistent between the replicate pipes. The dominating ceiling communities were members of the bacterial orders Rhodospirillales, Acidithiobacillales, Actinomycetales, Xanthomonadales and Acidobacteriales. The wall communities were composed of members of the Xanthomonadales, Hydrogenophilales, Chromatiales and Sphingobacteriales. The tidal zones were dominated by eight bacterial and one archaeal order, with the common physiological trait of anaerobic metabolism. Sewage flooding within the sewer system did not change the tidal and wall communities, although the corrosion communities in ceiling samples were notably different, becoming more similar to the wall and tidal samples. This suggests that sewage flooding has a significant impact on the corrosion community in sewers.