Abstract
The intrinsic fluorescence of aquatic organic matter emitted at 350nm when excited at 280nm correlates widely with water quality parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand. Hence, in sewage-impacted rivers and groundwater, it might be expected that fluorescence at these wavelengths will also correlate with the microbial water quality. In this paper we use a portable fluorimeter to assess the relationship between fluorescence intensity at this wavelength pair and Escherichia coli enumeration in contrasting river catchments of poor water quality: in KwaZulu-Natal, S. Africa and the West Midlands, UK. Across all catchments we demonstrate a log correlation (r=0.74) between fluorescence intensity and E. coli over a seven-log range in E. coli enumerations on non-perturbed (unfiltered) samples. Within specific catchments, the relationship between fluorescence intensity and E. coli is more variable, demonstrating the importance of catchment-specific interference. Our research demonstrates the potential of using a portable fluorimeter as an initial screening tool for indicative microbial water quality, and one that is ideally suited to simple pollution scenarios such as assessing the impact of faecal contamination in river or groundwater at specific sites.
Highlights
Microbiological waterborne disease is a significant concern for the water community globally, as pathogens in drinking water sources cause ill health
Our research demonstrates the potential of using a portable fluorimeter as an initial screening tool for indicative microbial water quality, and one that is ideally suited to simple pollution scenarios such as assessing the impact of faecal contamination in river or groundwater at specific sites
Further studies, increasing the sample size, may help strengthen the fluorescence intensity–E. coli relationship. We investigated this variability in the strength of the fluorescence intensity–E. coli relationship further: performing a principal components analysis (PCA) on the normalised dataset (Fig. 3)
Summary
Microbiological waterborne disease is a significant concern for the water community globally, as pathogens (from human and animal wastes) in drinking water sources (streams, wells) cause ill health. The original target, monitored by a joint World Health Organisation and UNICEF programme (Bartram et al, 2014), was that by 2015, the proportion of people without safe access to drinking water and basic sanitation would be halved. It is estimated that by 2014, 2 billion people had gained access to a safe source of drinking water, but 700 million still lacked access (WHO/UNICEF, 2014) and it is envisaged that warmer temperatures associated with climate change will delay progress in meeting the MDGs (Hodges et al, 2014). Diseases related to drinking water contamination are a significant burden on public health, with the main risk coming from the ingestion of pathogens from faecal sources associated, for example, with cholera, dysenteric and enteric fevers. The risk of water borne disease is greatly increased where the water supply and treatment infrastructure is damaged or poorly maintained, for example in areas of conflict, or in the aftermath of natural disasters
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