Cross-tracking of faecal pollution origins, macronutrients, pharmaceuticals and personal care products in rural and urban watercourses.

Lisa Paruch,Adam M. Paruch

doi:10.2166/wst.2020.603

Abstract

This study describes microbial and chemical source tracking approaches for water pollution in rural and urban catchments. Culturable faecal indicator bacteria, represented by Escherichia coli, were quantified. Microbial source tracking (MST) using host-specific DNA markers was applied to identify the origins of faecal contamination. Chemical source tracking (CST) was conducted to determine contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) of human/anthropogenic origin, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). In addition, the eutrophication-causing macronutrients nitrogen and phosphorus were studied. MST tests revealed both anthropogenic and zoogenic faecal origins, with a dominance of human sources in the urban stream; non-human/environmental sources were prevalent in the rural creek. CST analyses revealed a higher number of CECs in the urban stream than in the rural watercourse. Positive correlations between PPCPs and both E. coli and the human DNA marker were uncovered in the urban stream, while in the rural creek, PPCPs were only highly correlated with the anthropogenic marker. Interestingly, macronutrients were strongly associated with primary faecal pollution origins in both watercourses. This correlation pattern determines the main pollutant contributors (anthropogenic or zoogenic) to eutrophication.

Highlights

We discovered that the main eutrophicationcausing macronutrients (TN and TP) and total dissolved solids (TDS) were significantly ( p < 0.05) associated with the primary faecal pollution origins in the studied watercourses studied, i.e. with animal/environmental contamination sources in the zoogenic dominated rural creek (Figure 4) and human pollution sources in the anthropogenic dominated urban stream (Figure 5)
There are limited published records revealing an integrated cross-tracking of various faecal water contaminants and aligning them with primary anthropogenic or zoogenic pollution origins
We have integrated the outcomes of Microbial source tracking (MST) and Chemical source tracking (CST) tests and discovered that contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) correlates significantly with both E. coli and the human DNA marker

Summary

Introduction

All terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are directly or indirectly impacted by faecal contamination, which creates serious problems for public and environmental. The mortality and morbidity associated with faecal water contamination represent nearly 10% of the total burden of human disease worldwide (WHO ). The identification of faecal origins and tracking the sources of contamination become crucial for water quality. M. Paruch | Integrated cross-tracking of micro-, macro- and emerging water contaminants

Methods

Results

Conclusion