Abstract: “Biofilters at water treatments plants (WTP) are responsible for biologically stable water, but their effectiveness can be influenced by various factors. To determine the efficacy of the biofiltration process, so-called, natural organic matter (NOM) fractionation technique can be used, which enables the evaluation of distribution between hydrophobic and hydrophilic organic groups. Additionally, several methods were used for determination of living microorganisms in biomass of biofilters. The results of the current study showed that the biodegradation and biological activity processes in biofilters at WTP do not occur. The live microorganisms represented only 28% of the total cell count, which was 50% than reported. Nevertheless, NOM fractionation methods used in this research can be easily applied and useful for evaluation of full scale biofilter activity.”

Keywords: biofilters, biomass, biostability, fractionation