A study on transport of Escherichia coli through saturated porous medium

A study that can be useful to restrict groundwater contamination from transport of Escherichia coli via a saturated subsurface medium was undertaken. For this, column experiments were conducted using particle sizes 0.3, 0.6 and 1.0 mm for five different depths of 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 cm to study the effect of the media parameters on the transport mechanism. The bacterial solution was injected as a point source for finite duration. It was found that particle size, travel distance, porosity, particle surface condition and types of mineral present in the particle are the parameters affecting the mechanism of bacteria transportation through the subsurface media. The hydrodynamic dispersion coefficients of the Escherichia coli transport for various experimental parameters were also determined by optimizing the analytical solution. It is found that the hydrodynamic dispersion coefficient is affected by the uniformity coefficient of media, porosity and sorption mechanism. It is also observed that the sorption mechanism during the transport of Escherichia coli through porous media is affected by the presence of minerals such as aluminium oxide. The soil particles having higher percentage of aluminium oxide tend to absorb higher concentration of Escherichia coli.