Nutrient limitation such as phosphate removal via chemical means (ion exchange, adsorption or precipitation, for instance [16]) though employed in large scale reverse osmosis (RO) modules, have proven unpopular due to the associated higher maintenance costs and disposal issues of the employed agents [17]. The inhibition of quorum sensing (QS), a small molecule signal-based system involving auto-inducers, has been investigated in several studies [18; 19; 20]. Despite promising results in inhibiting the formation of biofilms by specific strains of bacteria, the feasibility of such inhibition at a large scale remains to be tested [20]. The mainstream approach to dealing with biofouling is membrane surface modification [4]. Essentially this involves selecting materials that exhibit low bacterial affinity and at the same time have low maintenance attributes. Surface modification of polymeric membranes has indeed received a great deal of attention in the field of membrane technology and different modification agents were tested. Studies have involved incorporating inorganic additives such as silica [21] and nano-sized metal oxides (such as oxides of titanium [22], zirconium [23] and aluminum [24]). In other studies, so-called bacterial repellants or antiadhesive additives which include polyethylene oxide [25] and chitosan [26], respectively or bactericidal silver nanoparticles [27] and copper [28] have been blended to polymeric membrane matrices. One study in particular tested microfiltration membranes coated with carbon-based nanoparticles (fullerene C60) on _Escherichia coli_ (_E. coli_) suspension [29]. Whilst their results indicated a decrease in microbial attachment, the effectiveness of their membranes in real waste waters that contain a diverse bacterial community was not tested. The incorporation of carbon-based materials into polymeric based membranes has been reported in several studies to enhance the membrane properties [30; 31; 32]. [PERSON] et al. [33] fabricated polysulfone-GO membranes that seemed to increase the membrane's hydrophilicity, porosity, flux and rejection of arsenate. Some studies have explored the possibilities involving high-grade GO (graphene oxide) and unmodified graphene acting as antimicrobial agents [34; 35; 36; 37]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [36] investigated the effect of GO on the microbial flora that is present in wastewater. Their findings implicated GO as an antimicrobial agent that is capable of disrupting the microorganisms' metabolic activity. In another study, the antimicrobial activity of GO was increased by the addition of silver nanoparticles onto the large surface area of the reduced GO structures [37]. More recently, [PERSON] et al. [38] investigated the effect of adding AG (arabic gum) to polysulfone membranes at varied loadings in the casting solutions. It was found that the addition of AG encouraged the formation of porous structures, thereby increasing the porosity of the membranes. AG was seen to enhance the membranes' surface charge, flux, rejection and importantly exhibited antimicrobial properties against _E. coli_ bacteria. For the purpose of this study, PES (polyethersulfone) was selected as a membrane-forming polymer due to its advantageous characteristics, namely good chemical resistance, robust mechanical strength and sound thermal stability [38]. The PES membranes were blended with AG alongside different loadings of synthesized GO. Both GO and AG were selected due to their dual effect on membrane hydrophilicity and surface charge. The fact that AG was recently shown to encourage pore formation [39] further added to the selection criteria of AG for its incorporation into the membranes. The PES/GO membranes are expected to possess much of the hallmarks of low-biofouling membranes, namely possessing highly hydrophilic surfaces with enhanced negative charge at their surfaces, which is attributed to the GO and AG as nanofiller and surfactant, respectively.