Tracking human faecal contamination in tropical reservoirs in Puerto Rico

Amador, José A.; Sotomayor‐Ramírez, David; Martínez, Gustavo; Chen, Lixian; Bachoon, Dave S.

doi:10.1111/j.1440-1770.2008.00378.x

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(92 reference statements)

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“…Numerous studies have reported increased faecal pollution in freshwater systems located close to cattle farms (Ufnar et al. 2007; Amador et al. 2008; Shanks et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of faecal pollution and relative algal abundances in Lakes Oconee and Sinclair, Georgia, USA

et al. 2009

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Water quality was assessed for five subregions of Lake Oconee and Lake Sinclair in Georgia, USA. The areas were chosen for their levels of human impact, including: (i) suburban development >30 years old; (ii) modern suburban development; (iii) industry; (iv) agriculture; and (v) an area of low human activity. The measured temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen concentration and turbidity values were normal for oligotrophic lakes. Faecal pollution in the lakes was determined using the membrane filtration method (Method 1600) on mEI plates for enterococci. There was a positive correlation between turbidity and the number of faecal enterococci in the lakes. The faecal pollution level was higher for the old suburban and agricultural areas. Faecal pollution in the agricultural region of Lake Oconee exceeded EPA regulatory standards. The faecal pollution source was identified using polymerase chain reaction detection, with Bifidobacterium adolescentis being a marker of human faecal pollution, and bovine-associated Bacteroides (BoBac) as a marker of cattle faecal pollution. Human faecal pollution was detected in the agricultural, old suburban and industrial areas of the lakes. In contrast, bovine faecal pollution was detected only in the agricultural area of Lake Oconee. Measurements of chlorophyll-a and relative algal community abundance indicated the least-impacted and modern suburban areas had significantly lower numbers of primary producers, being dominated by diatoms.

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“…Numerous studies have reported increased faecal pollution in freshwater systems located close to cattle farms (Ufnar et al. 2007; Amador et al. 2008; Shanks et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of faecal pollution and relative algal abundances in Lakes Oconee and Sinclair, Georgia, USA

et al. 2009

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“…The World Health Organization and numerous researchers suggest that a combination of faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) enumeration and source identification is needed to accurately assess human health risk associated with impaired waters (WHO ; Amador et al . ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Furthermore, the use of faecal coliform groups as an indicator of pathogen presence is questionable because of their ability to survive and reproduce in the environment (Hartel et al 2005). The World Health Organization and numerous researchers suggest that a combination of faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) enumeration and source identification is needed to accurately assess human health risk associated with impaired waters (WHO 2003;Amador et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the input and source of faecal contamination in the cattle farming and forested regions of the Oconee watershed

Burt

Bachoon

2012

Water & Environment J

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Sites along Sugar Creek and the Apalachee River were monitored to compare the water quality in cattle farming regions with the forested regions of the Oconee watershed. Dissolved oxygen (6.68 mg/L) and turbidity [23.91 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU)] in Sugar Creek and the Apalachee River were similar. Overall, cattle farming sites along Sugar Creek had higher levels of NO3− and PO4−3 during the summer months. In contrast, the forested sites on the Apalachee River had elevated concentrations of inorganic nutrients only during spring rain events. The concentration of faecal bacteria was greater in the cattle farming areas compared with the level of faecal bacteria in the forested areas, and microbial source tracking with the bovine‐associated Bacteroides (BoBac) DNA marker indicated that cattle were the major source of faecal bacteria in Sugar Creek.

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“…In fact, the number of studies with a comprehensive temporal component is relatively small, and more importantly, most have been conducted with samples collected in temperate regions. To date, most source-tracking studies conducted in tropical waters have not comprehensively accounted for seasonal variations, have been conducted using a small number of sites, and have not evaluated the host specificity and host distribution of the assays using a significant number of fecal samples from targeted and nontargeted hosts (19,43).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, FST studies in the tropics are relatively few and most of them have used human-specific assays on a limited number of samples collected during short periods of time (19,20). For example, Amador et al (19) studied the incidence of human pollution using a Bifidobacterium adolescentis assay at several sites along two water reservoirs in Puerto Rico. While the data implicated the presence of human fecal sources in one of the reservoirs, sampling was restricted to only 1 day and an evaluation of the specificity and distribution of the host-specific markers was not conducted.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking the Primary Sources of Fecal Pollution in a Tropical Watershed in a One-Year Study

Toledo-Hernández

Ryu

Gonzalez-Nieves

et al. 2013

Appl Environ Microbiol

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A study was conducted to determine the primary sources of fecal pollution in a subtropical watershed using host-specific assays developed in temperate regions. Water samples (n ‫؍‬ 534) from 10 different sites along the Rio Grande de Arecibo (RGA) watershed were collected mostly on a weekly basis (54 sampling events) during 13 months. DNA extracts from water samples were used in PCR assays to determine the occurrence of fecal bacteria (Bacteroidales, Clostridium coccoides, and enterococci) and human-, cattle-, swine-, and chicken-specific fecal sources. Feces from 12 different animals (n ‫؍‬ 340) and wastewater treatment samples (n ‫؍‬ 16) were analyzed to determine the specificity and distribution of host-specific assays. The human-specific assay (HF183) was found to be highly specific, as it did not cross-react with nontarget samples. The cattle marker (CF128) cross-reacted to some extent with swine, chicken, and turkeys and was present in 64% of the cattle samples tested. The swine assays showed poor host specificity, while the three chicken assays showed poor host distribution. Differences in the detection of hostspecific markers were noted per site. While human and cattle assays showed moderate average detection rates throughout the watershed, areas impacted by wastewater treatment plants and cattle exhibited the highest prevalence of these markers. When conditional probability for positive signals was determined for each of the markers, the results indicated higher confidence levels for the human assay and lower levels for all the other assays. Overall, the results from this study suggest that additional assays are needed, particularly to track cattle, chicken, and swine fecal pollution sources in the RGA watershed. The results also suggest that the geographic stability of genetic markers needs to be determined prior to conducting applied source tracking studies in tropical settings. C ulturable counts of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), such as enterococci and fecal coliforms, are used to measure fecal pollution levels in watershed systems. In order to be effective, indicators (i) should not survive for extended periods of time in the environment, (ii) should be exclusively associated with the intestinal tracts of humans and other warm-blooded animals, and (iii) should be associated with the occurrence of human enteric pathogens. However, growing evidence suggests that under some environmental conditions, FIB can survive outside the animal gut, that they are associated with a wide array of nonmammalian vertebrates and invertebrates, and that their correlation with pathogens varies significantly. Some of the evidence has been obtained from studies conducted in tropical regions (1, 2). For instance, currently used FIB can occur naturally in water accumulated in tropical epiphytic plants (3), can survive in tropical marine waters in the presence of nutrients (4), and can proliferate in tropical soils (5, 6). Studies in Mediterranean coastal areas have shown that Escherichia coli densities are often high in th...

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Tracking human faecal contamination in tropical reservoirs in Puerto Rico

Cited by 8 publications

References 31 publications

Assessment of faecal pollution and relative algal abundances in Lakes Oconee and Sinclair, Georgia, USA

Assessment of faecal pollution and relative algal abundances in Lakes Oconee and Sinclair, Georgia, USA

Evaluating the input and source of faecal contamination in the cattle farming and forested regions of the Oconee watershed

Tracking the Primary Sources of Fecal Pollution in a Tropical Watershed in a One-Year Study

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