scholarly journals Microbial Source-Tracking Reveals Origins of Fecal Contamination in a Recovering Watershed

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyatt Green ◽  
Daniel Weller ◽  
Stephanie Johnson ◽  
Edward Michalenko
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Bacterial Contamination ◽  
Fecal Contamination ◽  
Microbial Source Tracking ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Source Tracking ◽  
Chemical Parameters ◽  
Fecal Indicator ◽  
Combined Sewer ◽  
Rain Events

Fecal contamination of waterbodies due to poorly managed human and animal waste is a pervasive problem that can be particularly costly to address, especially if mitigation strategies are ineffective at sufficiently reducing the level of contamination. Identifying the most worrisome sources of contamination is particularly difficult in periurban streams with multiple land uses and requires the distinction of municipal, agricultural, domestic pet, and natural (i.e., wildlife) wastes. Microbial source-tracking (MST) methods that target host-specific members of the bacterial order Bacteroidales and others have been used worldwide to identify the origins of fecal contamination. We conducted a dry-weather study of Onondaga Creek, NY, where reducing fecal contamination has been approached mainly by mitigating combined sewer overflow events (CSOs). Over three sampling dates, we measured in-stream concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria; MST markers targeting human, ruminant, and canine sources; and various physical–chemical parameters to identify contaminants not attributable to CSOs or stormwater runoff. We observed that despite significant ruminant inputs upstream, these contaminants eventually decayed and/or were diluted out and that high levels of urban bacterial contamination are most likely due to failing infrastructure and/or illicit discharges independent of rain events. Similar dynamics may control other streams that transition from agricultural to urban areas with failing infrastructure.

scholarly journals Microbial source tracking of fecal contamination in Laguna Lake, Philippines using the library-dependent method, rep-PCR

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurice Beatrice Raphaelle O. dela Peña ◽  
Kevin L. Labrador ◽  
Mae Ashley G. Nacario ◽  
Nicole R. Bolo ◽  
Windell L. Rivera
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waters ◽  
Fecal Contamination ◽  
Microbial Source Tracking ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Source Tracking ◽  
Source Attribution ◽  
Monitoring Methods ◽  
K Nearest Neighbors ◽  
Fecal Indicator ◽  
Laguna Lake

Abstract Laguna Lake is an economically important resource in the Philippines, with reports of declining water quality due to fecal pollution. Currently, monitoring methods rely on counting fecal indicator bacteria, which does not supply information on potential sources of contamination. In this study, we predicted sources of Escherichia coli in lake stations and tributaries by establishing a fecal source library composed of rep-PCR DNA fingerprints of human, cattle, swine, poultry, and sewage samples (n = 1,408). We also evaluated three statistical methods for predicting fecal contamination sources in surface waters. Random forest (RF) outperformed k-nearest neighbors and discriminant analysis of principal components in terms of average rates of correct classification in two- (84.85%), three- (82.45%), and five-way (74.77%) categorical splits. Overall, RF exhibited the most balanced prediction, which is crucial for disproportionate libraries. Source tracking of environmental isolates (n = 332) revealed the dominance of sewage (47.59%) followed by human sources (29.22%), poultry (12.65%), swine (7.23%), and cattle (3.31%) using RF. This study demonstrates the promising utility of a library-dependent method in augmenting current monitoring systems for source attribution of fecal contamination in Laguna Lake. This is also the first known report of microbial source tracking using rep-PCR conducted in surface waters of the Laguna Lake watershed.

scholarly journals Meta-Analysis of Storm Water Impacts in Urbanized Cities Including Runoff Control and Mitigation Strategies

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengfei Zhang ◽  
Samuel T. Ariaratnam
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Storm Water ◽  
Water Runoff ◽  
Land Resources ◽  
Drainage Systems ◽  
Runoff Reduction ◽  
Natural Land ◽  
Rain Events

The rate of urbanization has been impacted by global economic growth. A strong economy results in more people moving to already crowded urban centers to take advantage of increased employment opportunities often resulting in sprawling of the urban area. More natural land resources are being exploited to accommodate these anthropogenic activities. Subsequently, numerous natural land resources such as green areas or porous soil, which are less flood-prone and more permeable are being converted into buildings, parking lots, roads and underground utilities that are less permeable to storm water runoff from rain events. With the diminishing of the natural landscape that can drain storm water during a rainfall event, urban underground drainage systems are being designed and built to tackle the excess runoff resulting from urbanization. However, the rapid pace of urbanization has profoundly affected the formation of urban runoff thus resulting in the existing underground drainage system being unable to handle current flow conditions. This paper discusses storm water impacts in urbanized areas globally by reviewing historical storm water events and mitigation strategies accompanied with runoff reduction performance that are considered simultaneously for the purpose of relieving the stress on underground drainage systems. It was found that the stormwater impact on ten selected typical urban areas were enormously destructive followed by billions of direct economy loss, fatalities, damaged properties and residents’ relocations. Furthermore, the meta-analysis of selected six runoff mitigation methods indicated that the average runoff reduction percent ranged from 43% to 61% under different rain events in various installed sites across different event years.

Multi-Year Microbial Source Tracking Study Characterizing Fecal Contamination in an Urban Watershed

2017 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca N. Bushon ◽  
Amie M.G. Brady ◽  
Eric D. Christensen ◽  
Erin A. Stelzer
Keyword(s):  
Fecal Contamination ◽  
Microbial Source Tracking ◽  
Source Tracking ◽  
Urban Watershed

scholarly journals Evaluation of Two Library-Independent Microbial Source Tracking Methods To Identify Sources of Fecal Contamination in French Estuaries

2007 ◽  
Vol 73 (15) ◽  
pp. 4857-4866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michèle Gourmelon ◽  
Marie Paule Caprais ◽  
Raphaël Ségura ◽  
Cécile Le Mennec ◽  
Solen Lozach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Samples ◽  
Fecal Contamination ◽  
Microbial Source Tracking ◽  
Source Tracking ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Specific Marker ◽  
Gene Markers ◽  
High Level ◽  
Bird Feces

ABSTRACT In order to identify the origin of the fecal contamination observed in French estuaries, two library-independent microbial source tracking (MST) methods were selected: (i) Bacteroidales host-specific 16S rRNA gene markers and (ii) F-specific RNA bacteriophage genotyping. The specificity of the Bacteroidales markers was evaluated on human and animal (bovine, pig, sheep, and bird) feces. Two human-specific markers (HF183 and HF134), one ruminant-specific marker (CF193′), and one pig-specific marker (PF163) showed a high level of specificity (>90%). However, the data suggest that the proposed ruminant-specific CF128 marker would be better described as an animal marker, as it was observed in all bovine and sheep feces and 96% of pig feces. F RNA bacteriophages were detected in only 21% of individual fecal samples tested, in 60% of pig slurries, but in all sewage samples. Most detected F RNA bacteriophages were from genotypes II and III in sewage samples and from genotypes I and IV in bovine, pig, and bird feces and from pig slurries. Both MST methods were applied to 28 water samples collected from three watersheds at different times. Classification of water samples as subject to human, animal, or mixed fecal contamination was more frequent when using Bacteroidales markers (82.1% of water samples) than by bacteriophage genotyping (50%). The ability to classify a water sample increased with increasing Escherichia coli or enterococcus concentration. For the samples that could be classified by bacteriophage genotyping, 78% agreed with the classification obtained from Bacteroidales markers.

scholarly journals Use of Bacteroidales Microbial Source Tracking To Monitor Fecal Contamination in Fresh Produce Production

2013 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 612-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kruti Ravaliya ◽  
Jennifer Gentry-Shields ◽  
Santos Garcia ◽  
Norma Heredia ◽  
Anna Fabiszewski de Aceituno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fresh Produce ◽  
Fecal Contamination ◽  
Microbial Source Tracking ◽  
Source Tracking ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Specific Marker ◽  
Production Environment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food Borne

ABSTRACTIn recent decades, fresh and minimally processed produce items have been associated with an increasing proportion of food-borne illnesses. Most pathogens associated with fresh produce are enteric (fecal) in origin, and contamination can occur anywhere along the farm-to-fork chain. Microbial source tracking (MST) is a tool developed in the environmental microbiology field to identify and quantify the dominant source(s) of fecal contamination. This study investigated the utility of an MST method based onBacteroidales16S rRNA gene sequences as a means of identifying potential fecal contamination, and its source, in the fresh produce production environment. The method was applied to rinses of fresh produce, source and irrigation waters, and harvester hand rinses collected over the course of 1 year from nine farms (growing tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, and cantaloupe) in Northern Mexico. Of 174 samples, 39% were positive for a universalBacteroidalesmarker (AllBac), including 66% of samples from cantaloupe farms (3.6 log10genome equivalence copies [GEC]/100 ml), 31% of samples from tomato farms (1.7 log10GEC/100 ml), and 18% of samples from jalapeño farms (1.5 log10GEC/100 ml). Of 68 AllBac-positive samples, 46% were positive for one of three human-specific markers, and none were positive for a bovine-specific marker. There was no statistically significant correlation betweenBacteroidalesand genericEscherichia coliacross all samples. This study provides evidence thatBacteroidalesmarkers may serve as alternative indicators for fecal contamination in fresh produce production, allowing for determination of both general contamination and that derived from the human host.

Multi-tiered approach utilizing microbial source tracking and human associated-IMS/ATP for surveillance of human fecal contamination in Baja California, Mexico

2018 ◽  
Vol 640-641 ◽  
pp. 475-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amity G. Zimmer-Faust ◽  
Vanessa Thulsiraj ◽  
Christine M. Lee ◽  
Victoria Whitener ◽  
Megan Rugh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Baja California ◽  
Fecal Contamination ◽  
Microbial Source Tracking ◽  
Source Tracking ◽  
Tiered Approach
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document