Identifying the Major Sources of Fecal Contamination in the Ulcohatchee Creek.
Abstract
GC Student Research Conference Title: Microbial Source Tracking of fecal contamination in the Ulcohatchee Creek Watershed. Authors: M. Amar, D. Bachoon Abstract The Ulcohatchee creek of the Flint River Watershed in Crawford County, Georgia is subjected to many sources of fecal contamination from nearby agriculture and wildlife. These sources include chicken and other bird, deer, pig, and cattle. The purpose of this research was to quantify fecal coliform levels from five different sites along this creek and also to identify the sources of the contamination using Microbial Source Tracking (MST) methods. IDEXX Colilert-18 was used for bacterial enumeration and Quantitative PCR was used for source identification. Fecal coliform levels varied across different sites and from June 2018 to December 2018. The recommended maximum load for fecal coliform in a single sample for recreational water is set at 410 cfu/100ml by the Environmental Protective Agency (EPA). This was exceeded on two separate occasions in the month of July and in the month of August 2018. The highest level of 1299.7 MPN/100ml was recorded in the month of August at site 1. The MST qPCR results indicated that cattle are the main source of contamination with deer to a lesser extent in the months of July and December of 2018. In August, deer were the only source of contamination. In the month of October, the fecal coliforms could not be traced to any of the 4 sources. Pigs and birds were not significant sources of contamination in the creek in any of the sampling events. This study provides insight into the level and source of fecal contamination in the Flint River Watershed in Crawford County, Georgia.
Identifying the Major Sources of Fecal Contamination in the Ulcohatchee Creek.
GC Student Research Conference Title: Microbial Source Tracking of fecal contamination in the Ulcohatchee Creek Watershed. Authors: M. Amar, D. Bachoon Abstract The Ulcohatchee creek of the Flint River Watershed in Crawford County, Georgia is subjected to many sources of fecal contamination from nearby agriculture and wildlife. These sources include chicken and other bird, deer, pig, and cattle. The purpose of this research was to quantify fecal coliform levels from five different sites along this creek and also to identify the sources of the contamination using Microbial Source Tracking (MST) methods. IDEXX Colilert-18 was used for bacterial enumeration and Quantitative PCR was used for source identification. Fecal coliform levels varied across different sites and from June 2018 to December 2018. The recommended maximum load for fecal coliform in a single sample for recreational water is set at 410 cfu/100ml by the Environmental Protective Agency (EPA). This was exceeded on two separate occasions in the month of July and in the month of August 2018. The highest level of 1299.7 MPN/100ml was recorded in the month of August at site 1. The MST qPCR results indicated that cattle are the main source of contamination with deer to a lesser extent in the months of July and December of 2018. In August, deer were the only source of contamination. In the month of October, the fecal coliforms could not be traced to any of the 4 sources. Pigs and birds were not significant sources of contamination in the creek in any of the sampling events. This study provides insight into the level and source of fecal contamination in the Flint River Watershed in Crawford County, Georgia.