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J Water Health 02 (2004) 249-260
Tracking the origin of faecal pollution in surface water: an ongoing project within the European Union research programme
Anicet R. Blanch, Luis Belanche-Muñoz, Xavier Bonjoch, James Ebdon, Christophe Gantzer, Francisco Lucena, Jakob Ottoson, Christos Kourtis, Aina Iversen, Inger Kühn, Laura Moce Maite Muniesa, Janine Schwartzbrod, Sylvain Skraber, George Papageorgiou, Huw D. Taylor, Jessica Wallis and Joan Jofre
Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Tel: +34 934 029012 Fax: +34 934 039047 E-mail: ablanch@ub.edu
Departamento de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Jordi Girona 1-3, Mòdul C6 (Campus Nord), 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Tel: +34 934 029012 Fax: +34 934 039047
Environment & Public Health Research Unit, School of the Environment, University of Brighton, Cockcroft Building, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
Laboratoire de Virologie du Milieu Hydrique, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université de Nancy I, 5 rue Albert Lebrun, 54000 Nancy, France
Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Tel: +34 934 029012 Fax: +34 934 039047
Water and Environmental Microbiology, SMI, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, SE 171, 82 Solna, Sweden
State General Laboratory, Microbiological Section, Kimonos 44, 1451 Nicosia, Cyprus
Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center, Karolinska Institute, Box 280, S-171 77, Stockholm, Sweden
Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center, Karolinska Institute, Box 280, S-171 77, Stockholm, Sweden
Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Tel: +34 934 029012 Fax: +34 934 039047
Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Tel: +34 934 029012 Fax: +34 934 039047
Laboratoire de Virologie du Milieu Hydrique, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université de Nancy I, 5 rue Albert Lebrun, 54000 Nancy, France
Laboratoire de Virologie du Milieu Hydrique, Faculté de Pharmacie, Université de Nancy I, 5 rue Albert Lebrun, 54000 Nancy, France
State General Laboratory, Microbiological Section, Kimonos 44, 1451 Nicosia, Cyprus
Environment & Public Health Research Unit, School of the Environment, University of Brighton, Cockcroft Building, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
Environment & Public Health Research Unit, School of the Environment, University of Brighton, Cockcroft Building, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 4GJ, UK
Department of Microbiology, University of Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Tel: +34 934 029012 Fax: +34 934 039047
ABSTRACT
The objectives of this study are to generate knowledge about methods to track the sources of faecal pollution in surface waters, with the aim of having one or a few easy procedures applicable to different geographic areas in Europe. For this, a first field study using already proposed methods (genotypes of F-specific RNA bacteriophages, bacteriophages infecting Bacteroides fragilis, phenotypes of faecal coliforms and enterococci, and sterols) has been done in five areas representing a wide array of conditions in Europe. The present faecal indicators (faecal coliforms, enterococci, sulfite reducing clostridia and somatic coliphages) have also been included in this first field study. At the same time some emerging methods have been settled or adapted to water samples and assayed in a limited number of samples. The results of this first field study indicate that no single parameter alone is able to discriminate the sources, human or non-human, of faecal pollution, but that a 'basket' of 4 or 5 parameters, which includes one of the present faecal indicators, will do so. In addition, numerical analysis of the data shows that this 'basket' will allow the successful building of predictive models. Both the statistical analyses and the studied predictive models indicate that genotype II of F-specific RNA bacteriophages, the coprostanol and the ratio coprostanol: coprostanol+epicoprostanol are, out of the studied parameters, those with a greater discriminating power. Either because unsuccessful adaptation of the methods to water samples or because the preliminary assays in water samples indicated low discriminating capability, only three (sorbitol-fermenting bifidobacteria, some species of bifidobacteria detected by PCR with specific primers and phages infecting Bacteroides tethaiotaomicron) of the newly assayed methods have been considered for a second field study, which is currently underway. Expectations are that these new tools will minimize the number of parameters in the 'basket', or at least minimize the difficulty in assaying them.
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