Environ. Sci. Technol. 2010, 44, 8622–8628
Transport Behavior of Surrogate Biological Warfare Agents in a Simulated Landfill: Effect of Leachate Recirculation and Water Infiltration P A S C A L E . S A I K A L Y , * ,†,‡,| KRISTIN HICKS,§ MORTON A. BARLAZ,§ AND FRANCIS L. DE LOS REYES III§ Water Desalination and Reuse Center and, Division of Chemical and Life Sciences and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, United States
Received June 7, 2010. Revised manuscript received October 11, 2010. Accepted October 12, 2010.
An understanding of the transport behavior of biological warfare (BW) agents in landfills is required to evaluate the suitability of landfills for the disposal of building decontamination residue (BDR) following a bioterrorist attack on a building. Surrogate BW agents, Bacillus atrophaeus spores and Serratia marcescens, were spiked into simulated landfill reactors that were filled with synthetic building debris (SBD) and operated for 4 months with leachate recirculation or water infiltration. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) was used to monitor surrogate transport. In the leachate recirculation reactors,
