Presence of microbial and chemical source tracking markers in roof-harvested rainwater and catchment systems for the detection of fecal contamination.

Abstract

Microbial source tracking (MST) and chemical source tracking (CST) markers were utilized to identify fecal contamination in harvested rainwater and gutter debris samples. Throughout the sampling period, Bacteroides HF183 was detected in 57.5% of the tank water samples and 95% of the gutter debris samples, while adenovirus was detected in 42.5 and 52.5% of the tank water and gutter debris samples, respectively. Human adenovirus was then detected at levels ranging from below the detection limit to 316 and 1253 genome copies/μL in the tank water and debris samples, respectively. Results for the CST markers showed that salicylic acid (average 4.62μg/L) was the most prevalent marker (100%) in the gutter debris samples, caffeine (average 18.0μg/L) was the most prevalent in the tank water samples (100%) and acetaminophen was detected sporadically throughout the study period. Bacteroides HF183 and salicylic acid (95%) and Bacteroides HF183 and caffeine (80%) yielded high concurrence frequencies in the gutter debris samples. In addition, the highest concurrence frequency in the tank water samples was observed for Bacteroides HF183 and caffeine (60%). The current study thus indicates that Bacteroides HF183, salicylic acid and caffeine may potentially be applied as source tracking markers in rainwater catchment systems in order to supplement fecal indicator analyses.