Determination and assessment of the microbial degradation of organic single compounds at environmental concentration levels< Back

Abstract
The two research projects “Detection and identification of compounds relevant for drinking water production in waste waters and in river Rhine” and “Development of methods for the determination of the relevance for drinking water production of organic compounds” which were funded in equal shares by the German Waterworks Association along the Rhine (ARW) and the German Association of the Chemical Industry (VCI), yielded essential results for the assessment of organic single compounds by the waterworks. A test method developed in these research project allows for the first time to study the biodegradation at low concentration levels and under environmental conditions and, thus, is applicable for studying of degradation processes in the water system or during riverbank filtration. However, during these two research projects new questions came up which will be answered by the new project which started in the year 2001:

• systematic investigations of the adaptation of microorganisms at low concentration levels
• determination of threshold values for biodegradation at low concentration levels
• study of the manipulation of biodegradation processes at low concentration levels.
  

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rhein-Wasserwerke e.V. (ARW)

Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI)