Wastewater treatment at Scott Base – microscopic organisms

Brad Lawson, a water engineer at Scott Base, shows us how microorganisms are housed and used when treating wastewater. Brad regularly samples the water to check what is living in it.

Questions for discussion

• Why do you think the engineering team created a “nice, small, confined environment” for the microorganisms?

• Why do the microorganisms live in the sludge?

Transcript

Voiceover

Microorganisms play an important role in cleaning wastewater at Scott Base. They help to break down and decompose organic materials, nutrients and contaminants. You’ll be amazed at how many different microorganisms there are in a sample of wastewater!

Brad Lawson

That’s where all of our bugs live. They’ve all got these ceramic beads. This is where the bugs basically live – this is their home. So as you can see, in between all the little Xs, that’s where all the sludge kind of builds up, and then the bugs can really process it in a nice, small, confined environment instead of it just being floating in a big tank.

Voiceover

The wastewater plant has microscopes so the water engineers can check the microorganisms. This provides data to make sure the plant is running as it should be.

The wastewater contains organisms like bacteria as well as multicellular organisms like rotifers. Rotifers feed on bacteria and other organic matter. They improve nutrient cycling within the sludge.

The abundance of microscopic species changes as the population at Scott Base increases and decreases. During the winter, fewer people lead to a reduction in wastewater and a change in the microorganisms.

Other microorganisms found in wastewater include tardigrades, amoebae, nematodes, bacteria, fungi, algae and many more.

Acknowledgements

Brad Lawson, Antarctica New Zealand

Footage of the Scott Base wastewater plant and all other stills unless stated, courtesy of Carol Brieseman and Dianne Christenson
Microscopic footage of rotifers, NotfromUltrecht. CC BY-SA 3.0
3D image of tardigrade, Schokraie E, Warnken U, Hotz-Wagenblatt A, Grohme MA, Hengherr S, et al. (2012). CC BY 2.5
Micrograph of amoeba, SmallRex. CC BY-SA 4.0
Nematode footage, Steven Myers. From Wastewater microbiology
Micrograph of E. coli bacteria, Public domain
Pink stained micrograph of Candida albicans fungi, Graham Beards. CC BY-SA 4.0
Micrograph of Chlorella algae, Andrei Savitsky. CC BY 4.0

Carol Brieseman and Dianne Christenson visited Antarctica with support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme.