Airborne transmission pathway for coastal water pollution.

Matthew A Pendergraft,Kimberly A Prather,Derek J Grimes,Falk Feddersen,Sarah N Giddings,Mitchell V Santander,Charlotte M Beall,Christopher Lee

doi:10.7717/peerj.11358

Matthew A Pendergraft, Kimberly A Prather + Show 6 more

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https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.11358

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Abstract

Each year, over one hundred million people become ill and tens of thousands die from exposure to viruses and bacteria from sewage transported to the ocean by rivers, estuaries, stormwater, and other coastal discharges. Water activities and seafood consumption have been emphasized as the major exposure pathways to coastal water pollution. In contrast, relatively little is known about the potential for airborne exposure to pollutants and pathogens from contaminated seawater. The Cross Surfzone/Inner-shelf Dye Exchange (CSIDE) study was a large-scale experiment designed to investigate the transport pathways of water pollution along the coast by releasing dye into the surfzone in Imperial Beach, CA. Additionally, we leveraged this ocean-focused study to investigate potential airborne transmission of coastal water pollution by collecting complementary air samples along the coast and inland. Aerial measurements tracked sea surface dye concentrations along 5+ km of coast at 2 m × 2 m resolution. Dye was detected in the air over land for the first 2 days during two of the three dye releases, as far as 668 m inland and 720 m downwind of the ocean. These coordinated water/air measurements, comparing dye concentrations in the air and upwind source waters, provide insights into the factors that lead to the water-to-air transfer of pollutants. These findings show that coastal water pollution can reach people through an airborne pathway and this needs to be taken into account when assessing the full impact of coastal ocean pollution on public health. This study sets the stage for further studies to determine the details and importance of airborne exposure to sewage-based pathogens and toxins in order to fully assess the impact of coastal pollution on public health.

Highlights

Half of the global population lives in coastal regions (U.S Comission on Ocean Policy, 2004)
For DR2, high sea surface dye concentrations are seen along the coast, they only persisted at any given location for a short time due to the rapid northward advection
This study confirms that coastal water pollution can be transferred from the surf to the atmosphere by measuring tracer dye concentrations in the ocean and air

Summary

Introduction

Half of the global population lives in coastal regions (U.S Comission on Ocean Policy, 2004). The United States Environmental Protection Agency lists 126 Priority Pollutants in industrial discharges, in addition to the many emerging contaminants of concern (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2014; Hutchinson et al, 2013). It is untreated sewage in coastal waters that is of primary concern because it often contains pathogens that can cause illness from a single exposure (Shuval, 2003; Gersberg et al, 2006; Griffin et al, 2003). Over 120 million cases of gastrointestinal disease and more than 50 million cases of respiratory disease are estimated to be caused each year by people entering contaminated coastal waters (Shuval, 2003)

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