摘要：Biological hazard in water resources in the form of pathogenic organisms are responsible for major outbreakin most of the developing countries. The goal which gains momentum is removal of pathogens. Every effortleading to reduction in sewage pollution and pathogenic microbes has to be promoted and implemented.This necessitates to search for novel approaches that does not harm the environment. One such novelapproach is exploring the possibilities of bacteriophages for pathogen removal. Sewage sludge sampleswere collected from different locations of Tamil Nadu and analysed. The pH of the sludge samples variedfrom 6.26 to 8.23 and alkaline pH was observed in Coovum sample. Highest EC was recorded by Velloresample (4.62 dSm -1 ). The total heterotroph population ranged from 11 × 10 6 to 24 × 10 14 /kg of dewateredsludge. Higher frequency of antibiotic resistant E. coli, Pseudomonas sp., Streptococcus sp. and Bacillusspp. were observed in all the places, which clearly indicated the extent of pollution. E. coli and Salmonellatyphi showed resistance to almost all the antibiotics and intermediate resistance to 3 antibiotics. None of thesewage sludge samples had phages against MTCC culture. Phage treatment resulted in 100 % removal ofS. typhi from sewage sludge.
