Please cite this article as: Purnell, S., Ebdon, J., Buck, A., Tupper, M., Taylor, H., Removal of phages and viral pathogens in a full-scale MBR: Implications for wastewater reuse and potable water, Water Research (2016),

The aim of this study was to assess the potential removal efficacy of enteric viruses in a fullscale membrane bioreactor (MBR) wastewater reuse system, using a range of indigenous and 'spiked' bacteriophages (phages) of known size and morphology. Samples were taken each week for three months from nine locations at each treatment stage of the water recycling plant (WRP) and tested for a range of microbiological parameters (n=135). Mean levels of faecal coliforms were reduced to 0.3 CFU/ 100ml in the MBR product and were undetected in samples taken after the chlorination stage. A relatively large reduction (5.3 log) in somatic coliphages was also observed following MBR treatment. However, F-RNA and humanspecific (GB124) phages were less abundant at all stages, and demonstrated log reductions post-MBR of 3.5 and 3.8, respectively. In 'spiking' experiments, free-swimming 'spiked' phages (MS2 and B14) displayed post-MBR log reductions of 2.25 and 2.30, respectively.The removal of these 'free-swimming' phages, which are smaller than the membrane pore size (0.04 µm), also highlights the possible role of the membrane biofilm as an effective additional barrier to virus transmission. The findings from this study of a full-scale MBR