Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications
Campus Units
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
7-12-2018
Journal or Book Title
Journal of Environmental Quality
Research Focus Area(s)
Land and Water Resources Engineering
DOI
10.2134/jeq2017.12.0483
Abstract
Increased public health risk caused by pathogen contamination in streams is a serious issue, and mitigating the risk requires improvement in existing microbial monitoring of streams. To improve understanding of microbial contamination in streams, we monitored Escherichia coli in stream water columns and streambed sediment. Two distinct streams and their subwatersheds were studied: (i) a mountain stream (Merced River, California), which represents pristine and wild conditions, and (ii) an agricultural stream (Squaw Creek, Iowa), which represents an agricultural setting (i.e., crop, manure application, cattle access). Stream water column and sediment samples were collected in multiple locations in the Merced River and Squaw Creek watersheds. Compared with the mountain stream, water column E. coli concentrations in the agricultural stream were considerably higher. In both mountain and agricultural streams, E. coli concentrations in bed sediment were higher than the water column, and principal component analysis indicates that land use affected water column E. coli levels significantly (p < 0.05). The cluster analysis showed grouping of subwatersheds for each basin, indicating unique land use features of each watershed. In general, water column E. coli levels in the mountain stream were lower than the USEPA’s existing water quality criteria for bacteria. However, the E. coli levels in the agricultural stream exceeded the USEPA’s microbial water quality criteria by several fold, which substantiated that increased agricultural activities, use of animal waste as fertilizers, and combined effect of rainfall and temperature may act as potential determining factors behind the elevated E. coli levels in agriculture streams.
Access
Open
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Copyright Owner
American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America
Copyright Date
2018
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Pandey, Pramod; Soupir, Michelle L.; Wang, Yi; Cao, Wenlong; Biswas, Sagor; Vaddella, Venkata; Atwill, Robert; Merwade, Venkatesh; and Pasternack, Gregory, "Water and Sediment Microbial Quality of Mountain and Agricultural Streams" (2018). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications. 947.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/947
Included in
Agriculture Commons, Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Environmental Public Health Commons, Sedimentology Commons, Water Resource Management Commons
Comments
This article is published as Pandey, Pramod, Michelle L. Soupir, Yi Wang, Wenlong Cao, Sagor Biswas, Venkata Vaddella, Robert Atwill, Venkatesh Merwade, and Gregory Pasternack. "Water and Sediment Microbial Quality of Mountain and Agricultural Streams." Journal of Environmental Quality (2018). doi:10.2134/jeq2017.12.0483. Posted with permission.