Temporal Physiochemical and Bacteriological Variability in an Urban Stream and Implications for Compliance Monitoring
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 5
Abstract
Regular water quality monitoring is required for protecting the physiochemical and bacteriological quality of surface water and to ensure water is meeting beneficial use criteria. This study investigated the effect of the time of sample collection on bacterial abundance and physicochemical parameters in an urban stream influenced by wastewater effluent but no rain events over 5 days on 3-h intervals. Temperature, discharge, pH, and conductivity were monitored onsite and they varied significantly () hourly. Total coliform and E. coli were measured in the stream water, sediments, and the treatment plant effluent. Over a day, microbial abundance varied eightfold to 21-fold upstream and twofold to 22-fold downstream of the discharge point for total coliform and E. coli, respectively. Compared with the regulatory 206 colony forming units (CFU)/100 mL coliform limit, stream samples exceeded safe limits in 70% of observations at 08:00, 50% at 11:00 and 14:00, and 10% at 17:00. Sediment samples from the upstream and downstream locations showed no significant variation in the microbial abundance based on time of sample collection, although the wastewater effluent effect was clearly seen. These results suggest repeated sampling of streams should be conducted at the same time of day to accurately inform risk-based sampling plans.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Specifically, water quality data are available upon request.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dani Zebelean, Dana Tran, and Katrina Brown, graduate students from the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of University of Utah, for their help in sample collection, onsite physical and chemical parameter checks, and sample transportation. The authors thank Justin Sorensen, a GIS Specialist at Marriot Library, University of Utah, for his help in generating the GIS plot. This work was supported by United States National Science Foundation (Award No. 1650098). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States National Science Foundation.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 148 • Issue 5 • May 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 27, 2021
Accepted: Dec 21, 2021
Published online: Feb 21, 2022
Published in print: May 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jul 21, 2022
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