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• Liwimbi, L
• Graves, A
• Israel, D
• Heugten, E
• Robinson, B
• Cahoon, C
• Lubbers, J
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• Liwimbi, L
• Graves, A
• Israel, D
• Heugten, E
• Robinson, B
• Cahoon, C
• Lubbers, J
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• Liwimbi, L
• Graves, A
• Israel, D
• Heugten, E
• Robinson, B
• Cahoon, C
• Lubbers, J

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Water 2010, 2(3), 587-604; doi:10.3390/w2030587

Article

Microbial Source Tracking in a Watershed Dominated by Swine

Lloyd Liwimbi¹ , Alexandria K. Graves^2,* , Daniel W. Israel² , Eric van Heugten³ , Bradford Robinson² , Charles W. Cahoon²  and Joice F. Lubbers²

¹ Department of Agricultural Research Services, Chitedze Research Station, P.O. Box 158, Lilongwe, Malawi ² Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7619, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695-7619, USA ³ Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7621, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27695-7621, USA

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 5 August 2010; in revised form: 30 August 2010 / Accepted: 2 September 2010 / Published: 9 September 2010

Download PDF Full-Text [294 KB, uploaded 9 September 2010 10:27 CEST]

Abstract: The high concentration of swine production in southeastern North Carolina generates public health concerns regarding the potential transport of pathogens from these production systems to nearby surface waters. The microbial source tracking (MST) tool, antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA), was used to identify sources of E. coli in a segment of Six Runs Creek in Sampson County, North Carolina. Among 52 water samples, fecal coliform (FC) counts averaged 272.1 ± 181.6 CFU/100 mL. Comparisons of isolates from water samples to an ARA library with an average rate of correct classification (ARCC) of 94.3% indicated an average of 64% and 27.1% of 1,961 isolates from Six Runs Creek were associated with lagoon effluent and cattle manure respectively. The potential for aerosol transport of bacteria during lagoon spray events, as well as, the potential for wildlife to serve as a vehicle of transport for bacteria from fields and lagoons to nearby surface waters should be investigated further.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance analysis; Escherichia coli; surface water quality; lagoon; microbial source tracking

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