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Relationships Between Manure Particle and E. coli Transport from Direct Fecal Deposits Under Steady-State Flows

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Abstract

Pathogens are the leading cause of water quality impairments as defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency and their transport within water bodies is poorly understood. Because of this, watershed-scale, water quality models often have poor bacterial prediction capabilities. To improve the understanding of in-stream bacterial transport, a cow pie was deposited in a recirculating flume with flows ranging from 0.0102 to 0.0176 m3 s−1. Water samples were collected and analyzed for Escherichia coli concentration, E. coli attached fraction, and turbidity. E. coli concentrations ranged from 4.72 × 103 to 1.70 × 105 CFU 100 mL−1 and turbidity ranged from 1.93 to 369 NTU over both locations and all times. The percentage of E. coli attached to particles ranged from an average of 2.9 to 31 % downstream of the fecal deposition point. Spearman correlation analysis demonstrated that bacteria concentrations were significantly related with water depth (ρ = 0.128, p = 0.018), and the concentration of attached bacteria was significantly correlated with both the total concentration of E. coli (ρ = 0.4081, p = 0.009) and turbidity (ρ = 0.3627, p = 0.0214). This analysis is useful to indicate parameters that should be considered when monitoring or predicting bacteria transport in streams.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially funded by Iowa State University and the National Science Foundation (CBET-0967845). A special thanks to research assistants in the WQRL for sample collection and analysis, to Dr. Chris Rehmann for assistance with ADV data analysis, and to Marshall Rubel and the Iowa State University beef research farm for assistance with manure collection. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iowa State University or the National Science Foundation.

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  1. Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Rachel L. McDaniel & Michelle L. Soupir

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  1. Rachel L. McDaniel
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  2. Michelle L. Soupir
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Correspondence to Michelle L. Soupir.

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McDaniel, R.L., Soupir, M.L. Relationships Between Manure Particle and E. coli Transport from Direct Fecal Deposits Under Steady-State Flows. Water Air Soil Pollut 224, 1444 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-013-1444-1

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