Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40662685›Full record

ReviewEnvironmental science & technology2025

Escaping Historical Lock-in─Redesigning Wastewater Treatment Plants and Their Microbiomes for the 21st Century.

Willy Verstraete, Laurence Strubbe, Ilje Pikaar, Tom W Vinestock, Po-Heng Lee, Silvio Matassa, James Chong, Jizhong Zhou, Glen T Daigger, Miao Guo

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Environmental science & technology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Willy VerstraeteCentre for Microbial Ecology and Technology, Ghent University, Ghent 9000, Belgium.
Laurence StrubbeEawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf 8600, Switzerland.
Ilje PikaarSchool of Civil Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-1820-9983
Tom W VinestockDepartment of Engineering, Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom.
Po-Heng LeeDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-2962-5162
Silvio MatassaDepartment of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80125, Italy.
James ChongDepartment of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom.
Jizhong ZhouInstitute for Environmental Genomics (IEG), School of Biological Sciences, University of Oklahoma, 101 David L. Boren Blvd., Norman, Oklahoma 73072 United States.
Glen T DaiggerOne Water Solutions, 9396 Arbor Court, Plymouth, Michigan 48170, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-3857-8345
Miao GuoDepartment of Engineering, Faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-7733-5077

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have gradually, over the last hundred years, been designed and extended to deal with a sequence of problems, including a) odor, b) suspended solids, c) organics, d) ammonia, e) nitrate and phosphate, and f) recalcitrant pollutants. The line of historical developments was piecemeal rather than holistic and did not focus on sustainability, resource recovery, and water reuse. On the contrary, microbial processes that accelerated the removal of nitrogen were incorporated and heralded as a positive part of the "cleanup" agenda, despite their relatively large energy consumption and substantial production of nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. The time has come to examine the historical, technological, and microbiological lock-in present in today's WWTPs, so that a more coherent integrated system can be developed for future generations. Some disruptive strategies are outlined, and a categorization of processes in terms of their potential for the future is formulated.

Indexed as

MicrobiotaWaste Disposal, FluidWastewaterWater PurificationWastewatermachine learningmicrobiomeoptimizationportable waterresource recoverywastewaterWWTP

Identifiers

PMID40662685
PMCPMC12312083

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.