Effect of surfactants on the survival and sorption of viruses

There is an increasing concern about the protection of groundwater from contamination by enteric viruses and the prevention of outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Knowledge of survivability and transport of viruses from their point of origin is necessary to determine their potential effects on the neighboring groundwater systems. The distribution of virus is, in turn, dependent on the physical and chemical compositions of the surrounding soil and subsurface systems. For the present study, we have determined the effects of different surfactants (cationic, anionic, nonionic, and biological) and natural organic matter (NOM) on bacteriophages. Results indicated that surfactants and NOM adversely affect phage survival in binary systems, with surfactants being the most harmful. Studies with ternary systems also showed that the presence of surfactants reduced sorption of phages on sorbents either by occupying available sorption sites on the sorbent material or by displacing the sorbed phages from the sorbent surface. Water contact angles of the selected phages and different sorbent surfaces have been measured. Experimental data demonstrated that the sorption of hydrophobic viruses was favored by hydrophobic sorbents, while the sorption of hydrophilic viruses was favored by hydrophilic sorbents.