This study was performed to determine the influence of water composition, virus type, pH and various salts and their concentration on the adsorption of F+bacteriophages and poliovirus to sand. Virus adsorption to sand was greater at acidic than alkaline pH values. At alkaline values (8.0, 9.0) virus adsorption was poor particularly in distilled water. The presence of divalent and trivalent cations in the medium enhanced the virus adsorption appreciably. On the other hand, the presence of humic acid at 10 and 100 mg/l reduced virus adsorption onto sand. The rate of F+bacteriophage adsorption to sand was similar or lower than that of poliovirus 1. Therefore, F+bacteriophages removal by adsorption processes is expected to be at similar or lower rates than that of pathogenic viruses. The results of this study support the initiative of proposing F+bacteriophages as anindex for virus removal through sand filtration.

Poliovirus 1, F+ bacteriophage, sand, cations, pH, humic acid, adsorption
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© International Association on Water Quality 1993
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