Significance of physical weathering of two-texturally different soils for the saturated transport of Escherichia coli and bromide

► Saturated transport of Escherichia coli and Br was studied for repacked weathered soils. ► Weathering repacked soil columns led to accelerated saturated flows. ► The preferential flow hypothesis was supported by the flow breakthrough curves. ► The dual-permeability model in HYDRUS-1D simulated both E. coli NAR and Br data.