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Viral and Bacterial Fecal Indicators in Untreated Wastewater across the Contiguous United States Exhibit Geospatial Trends
Citation:
Korajkic, A., B. McMinn, M. Herrmann, Mano Sivaganesan, C. Kelty, Pat Clinton, M. Nash, AND O. Shanks. Viral and Bacterial Fecal Indicators in Untreated Wastewater across the Contiguous United States Exhibit Geospatial Trends. APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, 86(8):e02967-19, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02967-19
Impact/Purpose:
Fecal pollution is the number one biological contaminant in U.S. surface waters with polluted sites in every state. When present, fecal waste can pose a serious public health risk and can lead to severe economic burdens, especially in communities that rely on clean and safe water. Fecal pollution can originate from untreated sewage due to combined sewer overflows, spills, and leaky infrastructure. In response to this nationwide need, the U.S. EPA ORD maintains an active research program to develop, validate, implement, and provide technical support for tools to characterize fecal pollution sources in environmental waters. Information covered in this manuscript presentation was prepared based on high priority research needs in the EPA Research Action Plan (SSWR Research Area 2, Output #8, Product 1).
Description:
Cultivated fecal indicator bacteria such as Escherichia coli and enterococci are typically used to assess the sanitary quality of recreational waters. However, these indicators suffer from several limitations such as the length of time needed to obtain results, they are commensal inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract of many animals, and they have dissimilar fate and transport characteristics compared to pathogenic viruses. Numerous emerging technologies are now available that offer same day water quality results, pollution source information, or more closely mimic persistence patterns of disease-causing pathogens that could improve water quality management, but data detailing geospatial trends in wastewater across the United States (U.S.) is sparse. We report geospatial trends of cultivated bacteriophage (somatic, F+, total coliphage, and GB-124), as well as genetic markers targeting polyomavirus, enterococci, E. coli, Bacteroidetes, and human-associated Bacteroides spp. (HF183/BacR287 and HumM2) in 49 primary influent sewage samples collected from facilities across the contiguous U.S. Samples were selected from rural and urban facilities spanning broad latitude, longitude, elevation, and air temperature gradients using a geographic information system stratified random site selection procedure. Most indicators in sewage demonstrated a remarkable similarity in concentrations regardless of location. However, some exhibited predictable shifts in concentration based on either facility elevation or local air temperature. Geospatial patterns identified in this study, or absence of, may have several impacts on future water quality management research directions, as well as the selection of alternative metrics to estimate sewage pollution on a national scale.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Viral and Bacterial Fecal Indicators in Untreated Wastewater across the Contiguous United States Exhibit Geospatial Trends
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32060019/