Implications of fecal bacteria input from latrine-polluted ponds for wells in sandy aquifers.

Implications of fecal bacteria input from latrine-polluted ponds for wells in sandy aquifers. Knappett, P. S. K., McKay, L. D., Layton, A., Williams, D. E., Alam, M. J., Huq, M. R., Mey, J., Feighery, J. E., Culligan, P. J., Mailloux, B. J., Zhuang, J., Escamilla, V., Emch, M., Perfect, E., Sayler, G. S., Ahmed, K. M., & van Geen, A. Environmental science & technology, 46:1361–1370, February, 2012.
doi abstract bibtex

Ponds receiving latrine effluents may serve as sources of fecal contamination to shallow aquifers tapped by millions of tube-wells in Bangladesh. To test this hypothesis, transects of monitoring wells radiating away from four ponds were installed in a shallow sandy aquifer underlying a densely populated village and monitored for 14 months. Two of the ponds extended to medium sand. Another pond was sited within silty sand and the last in silt. The fecal indicator bacterium E. coli was rarely detected along the transects during the dry season and was only detected near the ponds extending to medium sand up to 7 m away during the monsoon. A log-linear decline in E. coli and Bacteroidales concentrations with distance along the transects in the early monsoon indicates that ponds excavated in medium sand were the likely source of contamination. Spatial removal rates ranged from 0.5 to 1.3 log(10)/m. After the ponds were artificially filled with groundwater to simulate the impact of a rain storm, E. coli levels increased near a pond recently excavated in medium sand, but no others. These observations show that adjacent sediment grain-size and how recently a pond was excavated influence the how much fecal contamination ponds receiving latrine effluents contribute to neighboring groundwater.

@Article{Knappett2012,
  author          = {Knappett, Peter S. K. and McKay, Larry D. and Layton, Alice and Williams, Daniel E. and Alam, Md J. and Huq, Md R. and Mey, Jacob and Feighery, John E. and Culligan, Patricia J. and Mailloux, Brian J. and Zhuang, Jie and Escamilla, Veronica and Emch, Michael and Perfect, Edmund and Sayler, Gary S. and Ahmed, Kazi M. and van Geen, Alexander},
  journal         = {Environmental science & technology},
  title           = {Implications of fecal bacteria input from latrine-polluted ponds for wells in sandy aquifers.},
  year            = {2012},
  issn            = {1520-5851},
  month           = feb,
  pages           = {1361--1370},
  volume          = {46},
  abstract        = {Ponds receiving latrine effluents may serve as sources of fecal contamination to shallow aquifers tapped by millions of tube-wells in Bangladesh. To test this hypothesis, transects of monitoring wells radiating away from four ponds were installed in a shallow sandy aquifer underlying a densely populated village and monitored for 14 months. Two of the ponds extended to medium sand. Another pond was sited within silty sand and the last in silt. The fecal indicator bacterium E. coli was rarely detected along the transects during the dry season and was only detected near the ponds extending to medium sand up to 7 m away during the monsoon. A log-linear decline in E. coli and Bacteroidales concentrations with distance along the transects in the early monsoon indicates that ponds excavated in medium sand were the likely source of contamination. Spatial removal rates ranged from 0.5 to 1.3 log(10)/m. After the ponds were artificially filled with groundwater to simulate the impact of a rain storm, E. coli levels increased near a pond recently excavated in medium sand, but no others. These observations show that adjacent sediment grain-size and how recently a pond was excavated influence the how much fecal contamination ponds receiving latrine effluents contribute to neighboring groundwater.},
  chemicals       = {Sewage},
  citation-subset = {IM},
  completed       = {2012-06-04},
  country         = {United States},
  doi             = {10.1021/es202773w},
  issn-linking    = {0013-936X},
  issue           = {3},
  keywords        = {Bangladesh; Environmental Monitoring, methods, statistics & numerical data; Escherichia coli, isolation & purification; Geologic Sediments; Particle Size; Sewage, microbiology; Toilet Facilities; Water Supply; Water Wells, microbiology},
  mid             = {NIHMS349773},
  nlm-id          = {0213155},
  owner           = {NLM},
  pmc             = {PMC3602418},
  pmid            = {22191430},
  pubmodel        = {Print-Electronic},
  pubstate        = {ppublish},
  revised         = {2018-11-13},
}

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