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Supporting efficient and effective restoration of surface waters from multiple fecal pollution sources in PR
Citation:
SantoDomingo, J. Supporting efficient and effective restoration of surface waters from multiple fecal pollution sources in PR. RARE project final update, Cincinnati, OH, June 07, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
In this presentation we will providing a summary of the findings associated with a RARE project sponsored by Region 2
Description:
The quality of water sources used for recreational activities and consumption can often be at risk of contamination with fecal material originating from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of warm-blooded animals. Direct contact with and ingestion of waters contaminated with feces affects millions of people every year because of illnesses caused by enteric pathogens (i.e., pathogenic bacteria, viruses and protozoa). Both humans and other animals can be sources of enteric pathogens, thus identifying the source of fecal contamination in water sources is indispensable to minimize potential risks to public health. Historically, indicators of fecal contamination, particularly enterococci and thermotolerant coliforms have been used to infer fecal contamination and the potential presence of enteric pathogens. Indicators of fecal contamination pose several advantages over the direct detection of enteric pathogens depending on the methods used (i.e., culture or molecular). For instance, indicators of fecal contamination are usually present in higher concentrations compared to the target enteric pathogen(s), which simplifies detection when using both culture and molecular techniques as concentration methods of large volumes of sample may not be required. However, one of the main drawbacks of historical indicators of fecal contamination relies on their inability to discern among sources of fecal contamination. To address this research gap, we evaluated the use of qPCR assays specific to different sources of pollution (e.g., human vs animal sources). As information of bacterial community structure and diversity in tropical watershed systems with various levels of land use and fecal contamination lags, the present study analyzed 16S information from the previously characterized tropical watershed samples in Puerto Rico. Thus, another goal of the present study was to characterize the endogenous bacterial community diversity and composition and correlate previously collected molecular signatures of specific sources of fecal contamination using 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis.