Nora B. Sutton

Wageningen University & Research | WUR · Environmental Technology

The factors limiting micropollutant biodegradation in the environment and how to stimulate this process have often been investigated. However, little information is available on the capacity of microbial communities to retain micropollutant biodegradation capacity in the absence of micropollutants or to reactivate micropollutant biodegradation in s...

Understanding the dynamic change in abundance of both fecal and opportunistic waterborne pathogens in urban surface water under different abiotic and biotic factors helps the prediction of microbiological water quality and protection of public health during recreational activities, such as swimming. However, a comprehensive understanding of the int...

This study provides the first overview of the scientific knowledge on E. coli prediction models for freshwater in cities. While previously reviewed E. coli prediction models for freshwater beaches predominantly target lakes, urban models mainly target rivers. We found indications that model performance for urban rivers is lower than for recreationa...

Groundwater is the most important source for drinking water in The Netherlands. Groundwater quality is threatened by the presence of pesticides, and biodegradation is a natural process that can contribute to pesticide removal. Groundwater conditions are oligotrophic and thus biodegradation can be limited by the presence and development of microbial...

Micropollutant biodegradation is selected by the interplay among environmental conditions and microbial community composition. This study investigated how different electron acceptors, and different inocula with varying microbial diversity, pre-exposed to distinct redox conditions and micropollutants, affect micropollutant biodegradation. Four test...

Rapid sand filters (RSFs) have shown potential for removing organic micropollutants (OMPs) from groundwater. However, the abiotic removal mechanisms are not well understood. In this study, we collect sand from two field RSFs that are operated in series. The sand from the primary filter abiotically removes 87.5% of salicylic acid, 81.4% of paracetam...

Discharge of nitrogen (N) with wastewater causes eutrophication in surface water. On the other hand, nutrient-rich wastewater can be valuable for agriculture. Tailoring N removal or conservation is important to meet the requirements of different water end uses. Improved vertical flow constructed wetlands with hydroponic materials (CWH) as substrata...

Pesticides application on agricultural fields results in pesticides being released into the environment, reaching soil, surface water and groundwater. Pesticides fate and transformation in the environment depend on environmental conditions as well as physical, chemical and biological degradation processes. Monitoring pesticides biodegradation in th...

Antibiotic resistance is a global public health concern. Antibiotic usage in pigs makes swine wastewater (SW) a reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). SW is usually stored and treated in a three-chamber anaerobic pond (3-CAP) in medium and small pig farms in northern China. However, the yet unexplored presence of ARGs in SW during 3-CAP...

Canals and canalized rivers form a major part of surface water systems in European delta cities and societal ambitions to use these waters increase. This is the first assessment of how suitability of these waters can improve for three important uses: transportation, thermal energy extraction (TEE) and recreation. We assess suitability with Suitabil...

Microbial removal of trace organic micropollutants (OMPs) from drinking water sources remains challenging. Nitrifying and heterotrophic bacteria in rapid sand filters (RSFs) are capable of biodegrading OMPs while growing on ammonia and dissolved organic matter (DOM). The loading patterns of ammonia and DOM may therefore affect microbial activities...

Groundwater quality is crucial for drinking water production, but groundwater resources are increasingly threatened by contamination with pesticides. As pesticides often occur at micropollutant concentrations, they are unattractive carbon sources for microorganisms and typically remain recalcitrant. Exploring microbial communities in aquifers used...

The presence of organic micropollutant (OMP) in groundwater threatens drinking water quality and public health. Rapid sand filter (RSF) rely on biofilms with nitrifying and methanotrophic bacteria to remove ammonia and methane during drinking water production. Previous research observed the partial removal of OMPs with active nitrification and meth...

To design effective strategies for sustainable urban resource management, it is essential to understand which urban characteristics underlie consumption patterns. We used multiple linear regression analyses to examine sixteen factors on their explanatory power for spatial variation in residential electricity, gas and water consumption in Amsterdam....

Groundwater is the main source for drinking water production globally. Groundwater unfortunately can contain micropollutants (MPs) such as pesticides and/or pesticide metabolites. Biological remediation of MPs in groundwater requires an understanding of natural biodegradation capacity and the conditions required to stimulate biodegradation activity...

2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) is the third most applied pesticide in Brazil to control broadleaf weeds in crop cultivation and pastures. Due to 2,4-D’s high mobility and long half-life under anoxic conditions, this herbicide has high probability for groundwater contamination. Bioremediation is an attractive solution for 2,4-D contaminated...

While removal of antibiotics in constructed wetland treatment systems (CWTS) has been described previously, few studies examined the synergistic effect of multiple design and operational parameters for improving antibiotic removal. This review describes the removal of 35 widely used antibiotics in CWTS covering the most common design parameters (fl...

This article provides a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary overview of the phosphorus cycle through the wastewater and agri-food system. While mineral phosphorus stocks are finite, the use of mined phosphorus is accompanied with many losses, leading to pollution of water bodies. Recovering phosphorus from human excreta can contribute to more effi...

Understanding which factors influence urban metabolism is a prerequisite for designing policies and plans that effectuate sustainable resource management. A growing number of publications is concerned with these factors. Yet, this emerging field of research lacks a common framework that supports researchers in interpreting their findings, such as g...

Insights into the influence of redox conditions, that is the availability of electron acceptors, and dissolved organic matter (DOM) on pesticide biodegradation in groundwater are key to understanding the environmental fate of pesticides in natural groundwater systems. Here, the influence of redox conditions and supplemental DOM addition on biodegra...

Natural dissolved organic matter (DOM) and nitrification can play an important role in biodegradation of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in aerobic zones of constructed wetlands (CWs). This study used an enrichment culture originating from CW sediment to study the effect of DOM and nitrification on aerobic biodegradation of seven PhACs. T...

Pharmaceuticals in water have adverse effects on aquatic environment. Anaerobic pharmaceutical biodegradation coupled to dissimilatory manganese(Mn) (IV)- or iron(Fe) (III)-oxides reduction is potentially efficient but unexplored. In this study, batch experiments were performed using different Mn(IV) and Fe(III) species with a microbial inoculum pr...

This study focuses on the potential of applying manganese oxides (MnO2) under anoxic conditions (absence of oxygen) to remove diclofenac (DFC). By investigating parameters that are important for application, including temperature, MnO2: DFC molar ratio, and co-solutes, the DFC removal potential is evaluated in terms of efficiency and observed initi...

Applying manganese(IV)- or iron(III)-(hydr)oxides to remove pharmaceuticals from water could be attractive, due to the capacity of these metal oxides to remove pharmaceuticals and be regenerated. As pharmaceutical removal under anaerobic conditions is foreseen, Mn(IV) or Fe(III) regeneration under anaerobic conditions, or with minimum oxygen dosage...

This is the first study examining pharmaceutical removal under anoxic conditions with MnO2. This study compares the abiotic removal of seven pharmaceuticals with reactive MnO2 particles in the presence of oxygen (oxic conditions) and in the absence of oxygen (anoxic conditions). Due to the novelty of pharmaceutical removal under anoxic conditions,...

Wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America are integrated with farmland and contain mixtures of herbicide contaminants. Passive nonfacilitated diffusion is how most herbicides can move across plant membranes, making this perhaps an important process by which herbicide contaminants are absorbed by wetland vegetation. Prairie wetlands ar...

This study explored the removal of six pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in lab-scale experiments with sediments under four redox conditions, namely aerobic, nitrate reducing, sulfate reducing, and methanogenic conditions using batch and column set-ups. Redox conditions were found to influence PhAC removal by sorption and biodegradation. Th...

Biodegradation of pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) in the subsurface layer of constructed wetlands (CWs) under various anaerobic redox conditions is rarely studied. In this study, CW sediment microbial populations were enriched for PhAC biodegrading organisms. Biodegradation effectivity of a mixture of six PhACs (caffeine, CAF; naproxen, N...

This study explores ibuprofen (IBP) uptake and transformation in the wetland plant species Phragmites australis and the underlying mechanisms. We grew P. australis in perlite under greenhouse conditions and treated plants with 60 ?g/l of IBP. Roots and rhizomes (RR), stems and leaves (SL), and liquid samples were collected during 21 days of exposur...

Pharmaceuticals are detected at trace-levels in waters. Their adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems and human health demand novel pharmaceutical removal technologies for treating wastewater effluents. Iron (Fe) or manganese (Mn) may play important roles in these new technologies since these metals are abundantly available at low costs and are known...

Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) are not efficiently removed in wastewater treatment plants and are released into surface waters resulting in toxin accumulation. The aims of this study were to investigate the effect of solar irradiation on PhACs in wastewater using immobilized TiO2 present as a catalyst, and to study the potential of this...

Pharmaceuticals are detected at trace levels in waters. Their adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems and human health demand novel pharmaceutical removal technologies for treating wastewater effluents. Iron (Fe) or manganese (Mn) may play important roles in these new technologies since these metals are abundantly available at low costs and are known...

While in situ chemical oxidation is often used to remediate tetrachloroethene (PCE) contaminated locations, very little is known about its influence on microbial composition and organohalide respiration (OHR) activity. Here, we investigate the impact of oxidation with permanganate on OHR rates, the abundance of organohalide respiring bacteria (OHRB...

In situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) followed by a bioremediation step is increasingly being considered as an effective biphasic technology. Information on the impact of chemical oxidants on organohalide respiring bacteria (OHRB), however, is largely lacking. Therefore, we used quantitative PCR (qPCR) to monitor the abundance of OHRB (Dehalococcoides...

While in situ chemical oxidation with persulfate has seen wide commercial application, investigations into the impacts on groundwater characteristics, microbial communities and soil structure are limited. To better understand the interactions of persulfate with the subsurface and determine the compatibility with further bioremediation, a pilot scal...

To improve the coupling of in situ chemical oxidation and in situ bioremediation, a systematic analysis was performed of the effect of chemical oxidation with Fenton's reagent, modified Fenton's reagent, permanganate, or persulfate, on microbial diversity and activity during 8 weeks of incubation in two diesel-contaminated soils (peat and fill). Ch...

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

Sequences were screened for chimeras by the submitter using Decipher 1. ##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

While bioremediation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) is in general a robust technique, heterogeneity in terms of contaminant and environmental characteristics can impact the extent of biodegradation. The current study investigates the implications of different soil matrix types (anthropogenic fill layer, peat, clay, and sand) and bioavailabil...

Microbial community composition and diversity at a diesel contaminated railway site were investigated by pyrosequencing of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA gene fragments to understand the inter-relationships between microbial community composition, pollution level, and soil geochemical and physical properties. To this end, 26 soil samples from four...