University of California Water Resources Center

A bacterial isolate, strain perclace, was shown to reduce the ground water contaminant, perchlorate to levels < 0.005 mg L -1 when grown on acetate under anaerobic conditions. The ability of perclace to simultaneously reduce perchlorate and another ground water pollutant, nitrate, was examined in batch studies in columns. The strain reduced perchlorate and NO3 under similar growth conditions. A sand-packed column inoculated with perclace and simulated a flow-through biotreatment system for water contaminated with a low level of perchlorate and nitrate. Celite-packed columns were also used to deomonstrate the removal of perchlorate from ground water. [...]