Land Use, Weather, and Water Quality Factors Associated With Fecal Contamination of Northeastern Streams That Span an Urban-Rural Gradient

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorWeller, Daniel L.en
dc.contributor.authorMurphy, Claire M.en
dc.contributor.authorJohnson, Stephanieen
dc.contributor.authorGreen, Hyatten
dc.contributor.authorMichalenko, Edward M.en
dc.contributor.authorLove, Tanzy, M.T.en
dc.contributor.authorStrawn, Laura K.en
dc.date.accessioned2022-06-16T20:44:45Zen
dc.date.available2022-06-16T20:44:45Zen
dc.date.issued2022-02en
dc.description.abstractFecal contamination of surface water has been associated with multiple enteric disease outbreaks and food recalls. Thus, it is important to understand factors associated with fecal contamination of agricultural water sources. Since fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) were used to monitor surface water for potential fecal contamination, the purpose of the present study was to characterize associations between environmental factors, and (i) FIB (E. coli, Enterococcus, and coliform) levels, and (ii) host-specific fecal marker detection. This study used data collected from 224 sites along 3 waterways, which spanned an urban-rural gradient around Syracuse, New York. Between 2008 and 2017, 2,816 water samples were collected, and E. coli, Enterococcus, and/or coliform concentrations were enumerated. Thirty-one samples were also tested for human and ruminant microbial source-tracking markers. Water quality (e.g., turbidity, nitrate) and weather data were also collected for each site. Univariable Bayesian regression was used to characterize the relationship between each microbial target and land use, water quality, and weather factor. For eachmodel, probability of direction and region of practical equivalence overlap (ROPE) were calculated to characterize the association’s direction and strength, respectively. While levels of different FIB were not correlated with each other, FIB levels were associated with environmental conditions. Specifically, FIB levels were also positively associated with temperature, nutrient and sediment levels. Log10 E. coli levels increased by 0.20 (CI = 0.11, 0.31) and log10 Enterococcus levels increased by 0.68 (CI=0.08, 1.24) for each log10 increase in salinity and nitrate, respectively. These findings may indicate that similar processes drove microbial, sediment, and nutrient contamination of the sampled watersheds. While fecal contamination was strongly associated with land use, the direction of association varied between FIBs and the buffer distance used to calculate land use metrics. E. coli levels and human marker detection were positively associated with percent pasture cover within 122, 366, and 1,098mof the sampling site, while Enterococcus and coliform levels were only associated with pasture cover within 1,098m (not 122 or 366m). Ruminant markers were positively associated with pasture cover within 122m, but not 366 or 1,098m. These findings highlight the importance of considering (i) adjacent land use (and associated non-point sources of contamination) when developing strategies for managing fecal hazards associated in agricultural and recreational water, and (ii) spatial scale (e.g., 122 vs. 1,098m) when developing these strategies.en
dc.description.sponsorshipThis work was supported by Onondaga Environmental Institute (OEI). Manuscript preparation and data analyses were supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under award number T32ES007271, and Specialty Crops Research Initiative project 2019-51181-30016 from the United States Department of Agricultural (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture.en
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.extent13 pagesen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationWeller DL, Murphy CM, Johnson S, Green H, Michalenko EM, Love TMT and Strawn LK (2022) Land Use, Weather, and Water Quality Factors Associated With Fecal Contamination of Northeastern Streams That Span an Urban-Rural Gradient. Front. Water 3:741676. doi: 10.3389/frwa.2021.741676en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2021.741676en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/110806en
dc.identifier.volume3en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherFrontiersen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectfecal indicator bacteriaen
dc.subjectEscherichia colien
dc.subjectEnterococcusen
dc.subjectfecal source trackingen
dc.subjectBayesian regressionen
dc.subjectwater qualityen
dc.titleLand Use, Weather, and Water Quality Factors Associated With Fecal Contamination of Northeastern Streams That Span an Urban-Rural Gradienten
dc.title.serialFrontiers in Wateren
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
frwa-03-741676.pdf
Size:
826.64 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download

Collections

Open Access Subvention Fund Articles
Destination Area: Global Systems Science (GSS)
Scholarly Works, Food Science and Technology