Persistence and Free Chlorine Disinfection of Human Coronaviruses and Their Surrogates in Water

This study fills an important research gap on human coronaviruses survival in water and their potential for chlorine disinfection. In particular, we demonstrate the persistence and free chlorine disinfection of infectious human coronaviruses and their surrogates in drinking water and laboratory buffer. HCoV-OC43 was selected as a representative human coronavirus because of its high prevalence in humans. We also selected murine hepatitis virus (MHV) and transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), which are mammalian coronaviruses infecting mice and pigs, respectively, and are common alternative viruses used in HCoV- related research. The decay rate constants of coronaviruses in water and their free chlorine disinfection kinetics were measured through cell -culture-based assays. The results of this study will be of immediate use to inform water policies for pandemic preparedness and also highlight the necessity of selecting appropriate virus surrogates and water matrices in research on human pathogenic virus persistence and disinfection in water.