by Erik Rumbaugh | Jul 27, 2025 | Uncategorized, Wastewater Microbiome, Wastewater Monitoring, Wastewater Testing
The Shannon Diversity Index (H’) is a widely used metric in ecology to quantify the biodiversity of a community. In the context of wastewater treatment, it measures the diversity and evenness of microbial species within the activated sludge biomass. This...
by Erik Rumbaugh | Jul 22, 2025 | Biomass Optimization, Wastewater Monitoring, Wastewater Testing, Wastewater Troubleshooting
Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS) are the heart of biological wastewater treatment—and how well they settle can make or break plant efficiency. Poor settleability leads to solids carryover, elevated TSS in effluent, and headaches for operators. Fortunately, there...
by Erik Rumbaugh | May 8, 2025 | Wastewater Microbiome, Wastewater Monitoring, Wastewater Testing
Microbial communities play a crucial role in wastewater treatment, helping break down organic pollutants, remove nutrients, and support overall ecosystem health. When analyzing these environmental cultures, researchers use molecular tools like Next-Generation...
by Erik Rumbaugh | Apr 13, 2025 | Biomass Optimization, Wastewater Microbiome, Wastewater Monitoring, Wastewater Testing, Wastewater Troubleshooting
Biological wastewater treatment units contain an ecosystem where diverse organisms collaborate to treat the wastewater. These microbial communities play essential roles in removing pollutants, recycling nutrients, and maintaining water quality. While there are...
by Erik Rumbaugh | Oct 23, 2024 | Wastewater Microbiome, Wastewater Monitoring, Wastewater Testing
You may have seen information on using molecular tools or genetic testing in wastewater treatment systems. While 15 years ago, this was either unavailable, expensive, and not useful, things have changed, and Aster Bio’s Microbial Community Analysis (MCA) test gives...
by Erik Rumbaugh | Aug 1, 2024 | Wastewater Monitoring, Wastewater Procedure, Wastewater Testing
Wastewater MLSS or MLVSS is often call the “microbes” or amount of working biomass in a treatment system. However, MLVSS is just the weight of volatile solids in the system rather than any direct measure of living/working biomass. MLVSS consists of living and dead...
