Metagenomic Characterisation of Opaque Beer Industry Wastewater

The availability of clean portable water has been a challenge for many Zimbabwean municipalities over the years. Currently, several towns and cities are facing water quality problems generally caused by pollution due to inadequate maintenance of waste water treatment plants, expensive waste water treatment technologies and poor institutional framework. In this study the waste water treatment efficiencies of 15 opaque beer brewery waste water treatment plants were determining by measuring how each plant altered known physico-chemical indicators of waste water quality. It was assumed that the observed degree of alteration in waste water physico-chemical properties was due a number of factors, with the plant’s microbial diversity and load being a key factor. The thinking behind this assumption is that where you have more microorganisms of many different types, you are likely to find more efficient degradation of wastewater than in the opposite scenario. As a consequence, the study also sought to determine the microbial diversity in the two extremes, i.e. in the plant with the highest and lowest degree of alteration of wastewater physico-chemical parameters.