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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.

Sec. Aquatic Microbiology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1622038

This article is part of the Research TopicBiofilms in Aquatic Environments and New Strategies for Microbial Biofilm ControlView all articles

Membrane filtration reduces nutrient availability and invasion potential in drinking water systems, without affecting mature biofilms

Provisionally accepted
Thomas PluymThomas Pluym1*Fien WaegenaarFien Waegenaar1*Karlien DejaegerKarlien Dejaeger2Marie DhooreMarie Dhoore2Eline MestdaghEline Mestdagh1Emile CornelissenEmile Cornelissen2,3Nico BoonNico Boon1Bart De GussemeBart De Gusseme1,4*
  • 1Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  • 2The Particle and Interfacial Technology Group (PaInT), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Frieda Saeysstraat 1, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium., 9000, Belgium
  • 3KWR Water Research Institute, Groningenhaven 7, 3433 PE Nieuwegein, the Netherlands., Nieuwegein, Netherlands
  • 4Farys, Department Innovation Water – R&D, Stropstraat 1, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium., Gent, Belgium

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Ensuring biostable drinking water is a growing priority for drinking water utilities, especially in nonor minimally chlorinated distribution systems where microbial regrowth is controlled through nutrient limitation. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) in reducing total organic carbon (TOC) and their impact on the microbiology in a pilot-scale drinking water distribution system over seven weeks. NF achieved significantly higher TOC removal (75.4%) compared to UF (25.4%), with high performance size exclusion chromatography revealing almost complete removal of all molecular weight fractions in NF-treated water. When introduced into the pilot system, NF-, UF-treated water, and untreated tap water supported similar increasing bulk cell concentrations, but exhibited distinct bacterial community compositions, with NF-treated water showing the most divergent microbiome. Despite these differences in the bulk water, the mature biofilm community (~2 years old) remained stable, underscoring it resilience to changes in nutrient conditions. An invasion assay demonstrated that decay rates of unwanted microorganisms increased with decreasing organic carbon content. For example decay rates for the introduced microorganism Pseudomonas putida in NF-, UF-treated water, and untreated tap water was respectively, -0.18 h -1 , -0.143 h -1 ,and -0.089 h -1 , indicating enhanced biostability in membrane-treated systems.

Keywords: Drinking water1, Biostability2, Microbiology and Biofilm3, Membrane filtration4, Nutrient limitation5

Received: 02 May 2025; Accepted: 28 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Pluym, Waegenaar, Dejaeger, Dhoore, Mestdagh, Cornelissen, Boon and De Gusseme. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Thomas Pluym, Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Fien Waegenaar, Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Bart De Gusseme, Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material