Bacterial and Chemical Evidence of Coastal Water Pollution from the Tijuana River in Sea Spray Aerosol

Abstract

Roughly half of the human population lives near the coast, and coastal water pollution (CWP) is widespread. Coastal waters along Tijuana, Mexico, and Imperial Beach (IB), USA, are frequently polluted by millions of gallons of untreated sewage and stormwater runoff. Entering coastal waters causes over 100 million global annual illnesses, but CWP has the potential to reach many more people on land via transfer in sea spray aerosol (SSA). Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we found sewage-associated bacteria in the polluted Tijuana River flowing into coastal waters and returning to land in marine aerosol. Tentative chemical identification from non-targeted tandem mass spectrometry identified anthropogenic compounds as chemical indicators of aerosolized CWP, but they were ubiquitous and present at highest concentrations in continental aerosol. Bacteria were better tracers of airborne CWP, and 40 tracer bacteria comprised up to 76% of the bacteria community in IB air. These findings confirm that CWP transfers in SSA and exposes many people along the coast. Climate change may exacerbate CWP with more extreme storms, and our findings call for minimizing CWP and investigating the health effects of airborne exposure.

Indirect Impact of Eutrophication on Occurrence, Air–Water Exchange, and Vertical Sinking Fluxes of Antibiotics in a Subtropical River

“…These antibiotics exhibit ionic properties in the elevated pH, which is indirectly induced by the eutrophication in the Pearl River. Organic species originating from the ocean can enter the atmosphere via two principal mechanisms: the generation of sea spray aerosols through bubble bursting and wind shear, − along with the release of volatile organic compounds from the ocean surface. − Studies have illustrated that phytoplankton biomass significantly influences aerosol particles generation through wave breaking in both sea and lake environments, leading to an enrichment of matter at the air–water interface. − The aerosolization of phytoplankton cells and fragments occurs across a size spectrum ranging from fine (<2.5 μm) to coarse (2.5–10 μm), with microalgal abundance in the atmosphere varying from 10 –4 to 10 4 cells m –3 . , This work revealed that antibiotics transfer to the atmosphere primarily through aerosolization, controlled by phytoplankton biomass. By linearly plotting the concentrations in aerosol-phase concentrations of antibiotics C air against the biomass, negative correlations between C air and phytoplankton biomass were observed in general (Figures a).…”

Small Moleculein situResin Capture – A Compound First Approach to Natural Product Discovery

“…Cabrillostatin appears to be widely distributed in Pacific Ocean seawater and is likely produced by a planktonic organism. Resolving the structure of 1 adds to our understanding of the composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) [41, 42] and raises questions about the ecological roles of what appears to be a widespread and biologically active natural product. Interestingly, cabrillospirals were not detected in any of the MassIVE datasets, suggesting that some compounds are site specific and justifying broader SMIRC deployments to gauge the extent of chemical diversity that can be captured.…”

Separation and Photodegradation of Dye-Containing Oil/Water Mixtures with a Photothermally Responsive PNIPAm-MXene/PAN-PNIPAm Nanofibrous Hydrogel Membrane

“…The ever-increasing discharge of industrial oily wastewater has caused extensive damage to the ecological balance and public health in recent years. − Oily wastewaters generally contain complicated compositions, such as oil/water emulsions, oil/water multiphase mixtures, or even highly toxic oily/aqueous-soluble dyes, which pose a greater health risk. Membrane separation technology has been widely used in wastewater purification due to its low consumption, high separation efficiency, and convenient operation features. − However, traditional separation membranes have poor antifouling performance, resulting in oil droplets or organic dyes in wastewater being easily adhered to the surface of the separation membrane, further blocking the pores during the separation process.…”