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Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment of Freshwater Impacted by Animal Fecal Material
Citation:
Soller, J., T. Bartrand, M. Molina, G. Whelan, M. Schoen, AND N. Ashbolt. Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment of Freshwater Impacted by Animal Fecal Material. Presented at 8th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software (iEMSs), San Diego, CA, June 06, 2013 - June 19, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
Presented at 8th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software (iEMSs) June 15-19, 2014, San Diego,
Description:
We evaluated the potential for human illness from a hypothetical recreational exposure to freshwater impacted by land-applied, agricultural animal fecal material. The hypothetical exposure scenario included the following characteristics: 1) fresh cattle manure, pig slurry, or chicken litter (fecal material) are land-applied at standard agronomic rates (based on nutrient management) adjacent to a freshwater waterbody; 2) fecal materials contain fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) and pathogens of public health concern (reference pathogens) at levels reported in the peer-reviewed literature; 3) FIB and reference pathogens mobilize via runoff at rates estimated from our rainfall simulation experiments; 4) primary contact recreation (e.g. swimming) occurs in undiluted runoff at the edge of the waterbody or in diluted runoff that contains specific reference levels of FIB in the waterbody; and 5) exposure to reference pathogens occurs through ingestion of water during recreation. Herein, we present quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) model results based on this exposure scenario. We also compare these results to our previously published addressing direct contamination (compared to this runoff scenario). Finally, management considerations are discussed along with potential implications for site-specific water quality criteria.
