Municipal Department 39, Rinnböckstraße 15/2, 1110, Vienna, Austria; Centre for Water Resource Systems (CWRS), TU Wien, Karlsplatz 13, 1040, Vienna, Austria.
Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences, Division Water Quality and Health, Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Straße 30, 3500, Krems an der Donau, Austria; Interuniversity Cooperation Centre for Water and Health, Austria.
Water Res. 2020 Oct 1;184:116132. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2020.116132. Epub 2020 Jul 5.
A novel concept for fecal pollution analysis was applied at alluvial water resources to substantially extend the information provided by fecal indicator bacteria (FIB). FIB data were linked to river connectivity and genetic microbial source tracking (MST). The concept was demonstrated at the Danube River and its associated backwater area downstream of the city of Vienna, using a comprehensive 3-year data set (10 selected sites, n = 317 samples). Enumeration of Escherichia coli (ISO 16649-2), intestinal enterococci (ISO 7899-2) and Clostridium perfringens (ISO 14189) revealed a patchy distribution for the investigation area. Based on these parameters alone a clear interpretation of the observed fecal contamination patterns was not possible. Comparison of FIB concentrations to river connectivity allowed defining sites with dominating versus rare fecal pollution influence from the River Danube. A strong connectivity gradient at the selected backwater sites became obvious by 2D hydrodynamic surface water modeling, ranging from 278 days (25%) down to 5 days (<1%) of hydraulic connectivity to the River Danube within the 3-year study period. Human sewage pollution could be identified as the dominating fecal source at the highly connected sites by adding information from MST analysis. In contrast, animal fecal pollution proofed to be dominating in areas with low river connectivity. The selection of genetic MST markers was focusing on potentially important pollution sources in the backwater area, using human (BacHum, HF183II), ruminant (BacR) and pig (Pig2Bac) -associated quantitative PCR assays. The presented approach is assumed to be useful to characterize alluvial water resources for water safety management throughout the globe, by allocating fecal pollution to autochthonous, allochthonous, human or animal contamination components. The established river connectivity metric is not limited to bacterial fecal pollution, but can be applied to any type of chemical and microbiological contamination.
一种新的粪便污染分析概念被应用于冲积水资源，以大大扩展粪便指示菌（FIB）提供的信息。将 FIB 数据与河流连通性和遗传微生物源追踪（MST）联系起来。该概念在多瑙河及其下游维也纳市的相关回水区得到了验证，使用了一个全面的 3 年数据集（10 个选定地点，n=317 个样本）。大肠杆菌（ISO 16649-2）、肠道肠球菌（ISO 7899-2）和产气荚膜梭菌（ISO 14189）的计数显示，调查区域的分布不均匀。仅基于这些参数，就无法清楚地解释观察到的粪便污染模式。将 FIB 浓度与河流连通性进行比较，可以确定受多瑙河主导或罕见粪便污染影响的地点。通过二维水动力地表水模型，在选定的回水区站点上明显出现了连通性梯度，在 3 年的研究期间，水力连通时间从 278 天（25%）到 5 天（<1%）不等。通过添加 MST 分析的信息，可以将人类污水污染识别为高度连通站点的主要粪便来源。相比之下，在河流连通性较低的地区，动物粪便污染被证明是主要的。遗传 MST 标记的选择侧重于回水区潜在的重要污染来源，使用人类（BacHum、HF183II）、反刍动物（BacR）和猪（Pig2Bac）相关定量 PCR 检测。假设该方法可用于通过将粪便污染分配给自生、外源、人类或动物污染成分，来对全球的冲积水资源进行水质安全管理。建立的河流连通性度量不仅限于细菌粪便污染，还可应用于任何类型的化学和微生物污染。
