Deterministically selected rare taxa drive changes in community composition in drinking water biological activated carbon filters.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Biofiltration offers a sustainable, low-energy solution for drinking water treatment but suffers from inconsistent performance due to complex microbial dynamics. Current studies lack insight into early biofilter microbial community assembly. Here we perform a high-resolution spatial and temporal investigation of biomass accumulation and community development within biological activated carbon (BAC) filters over the first 6 months of operation.

Results

We found that initial biomass accumulation is not linear, instead characterised by periods of growth and decay. Mass balance identified an estimated + 6.54 × 10⁸ new cells daily during the growth phase (days 34-62), falling to a loss of 1.69 × 10⁹ by the decay phase (days 83-162). There was no s

SUBMITTER: Quinn D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12751416 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature