Journal article
Distributions of fecal markers in wastewater from varying climatic zones for human fecal pollution tracking in Australian surface waters
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol.82(4), pp.1316-1323
2016
Abstract
Recreational and potable water supplies polluted with human wastewater can pose a direct health risk to humans. Therefore, sensitive detection of human fecal pollution in environmental waters is utmost important to water quality authorities around the globe. Microbial source tracking (MST) utilizes human fecal markers (HFMs) to detect human wastewater pollution in environmental waters. The concentrations of these markers in raw wastewater is considered as an important factor because it is likely that a marker whose concentrations is high in wastewater will be more frequently detected in polluted waters. In this study, quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays were used to determine the concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) Escherichia coli and Enterococcus spp., and HFMs Bacteroides HF183 (HF183), human adenoviruses (HAdVs) and polyomaviruses (HPyVs) in raw municipal wastewater influent from varying climatic zones in Australia. The mean concentrations of E. coli in pooled human wastewater datasets (from varying climatic zones) were the highest (3.2 × 106 gene copies per mL), followed by HF183 (8.0 × 105 gene copies per mL) and Enterococcus spp. (3.6 × 105 gene copies per mL). HAdV and HPyV concentrations were 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than FIB and the HF183. Strong positive and negative correlations were observed between FIB and HFMs concentrations within and across WWTPs. To identify the most sensitive marker of human fecal pollution, environmental water samples were seeded with raw human wastewater. The results from the seeding experiments indicated that Bacteroides HF183 were more sensitive in detecting human fecal pollution compared to HAdVs and HPyVs. Since, the HF183 marker can be occasionally present in non-target animal fecal samples, it is recommended that for tracking human fecal pollution in Australian environmental waters, HF183 along with a viral marker (HAdVs or HPyVs) should be used.
Details
- Title
- Distributions of fecal markers in wastewater from varying climatic zones for human fecal pollution tracking in Australian surface waters
- Authors
- Warish Ahmed (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health, Education and EngineeringJatinder P S Sidhu (Author) - CSIRO Land and WaterK Smith (Author) - CSIRO Land and WaterD J Beale (Author) - CSIRO Land and WaterP Gyawali (Author) - CSIRO Land and WaterS Toze (Author) - CSIRO Land and Water
- Publication details
- Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol.82(4), pp.1316-1323
- Publisher
- American Society for Microbiology
- Date published
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.1128/AEM.03765-15
- ISSN
- 0099-2240
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2016 American Society for Microbiology. Reproduced here in accordance with the publishers copyright policy.
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449172002621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
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