New bacteria from anammox wastewater treatment Removal of nitrogen from wastewater is crucial to maintain water quality. A novel wastewater treatment technology based on "anammox" bacteria, capable of removal of nitrogen compounds anaerobically, has greatly improved this process. After a decade of operation of a full scale anammox reactor, researchers of the Radboud University and BE-Basic have studied the microorganisms in that a reactor and found unexpected diversity in this man-made system, including some "microbial dark matter". The work, published on March 31 by the journal Nature Communications , can help improving the performance of anammox reactors. http://phys.org/news/2016-03-bacteria-anammox-wastewater-treatment.html