AWWA WQTC55129

The use of biomarkers to identify fecal waste sources in water can be of great value in watershed management. This paper will review four protocols currently used in waste source identification. Interestingly, all are based on E. coli, a long standing indicator of fecal pollution from warm blooded animals. Three of the methods use DNA from E. coli to determine the fecal source and the last uses a bacterial virus that infects E. coli. Although many other procedures exist, the background information on these four is the best developed to date. The focus of the paper is not on the methodology itself but rather how it is applied. Sampling strategy and selection of representative numbers of isolates within a sample are necessary for the generation of accurate data. Also, the selection of the appropriate method to answer the question the watershed is facing and suitable interpretation of data generated when these methods are applied is crucial to the validity of conclusions drawn by managers and policy makers. Includes 48 references, tables.