Back to Search
Start Over
Sustainable reduction in the flux of microbial compliance parameters from urban and arable land use to coastal bathing waters by a wetland ecosystem produced by a marine flood defence structure.
- Source :
-
Water research [Water Res] 2005 Sep; Vol. 39 (14), pp. 3320-32. - Publication Year :
- 2005
-
Abstract
- 'Natural' treatment systems such as wetlands and reed beds have been proposed as sustainable means of reducing fluxes of faecal indicator organisms (FIOs) to recreational and shellfish harvesting waters. This is because FIO fluxes to coastal waters from both point (effluent) and diffuse (catchment) sources can cause non-compliance with microbiological standards for bathing and shellfish harvesting waters. The Water Framework Directive requires competent authorities in the member states to manage both point and diffuse sources of FIOs in an integrated manner to achieve compliance with 'good' water quality as defined in a series of daughter Directives. This study was undertaken to investigate the relative sources of FIOs to the popular bathing waters around Clacton, UK. In this predominantly arable (mainly cereal cropping) farming area, the principal land use predictor, explaining 76% of the variance in geometric mean presumptive Escherichia coli concentration at sub-catchment outlets during the bathing season, was the proportion of built-up (i.e. urbanised) land in each sub-catchment. This new finding contrasts with earlier studies in livestock farming regions where the proportion of improved grassland has proven to be the strongest predictor of microbial concentration. Also novel in this investigation, a flood defence wall has been built creating a wetland area which discharges every tidal cycle. The wetland produces over 97% reduction in the flux and concentrations of FIOs to the marine recreational waters. Also, FIO concentrations in water draining through the wetland to the sea were similar to concentrations measured in six UK sewage treatment plant effluents subject to secondary (biological) treatment followed by UV disinfection.
- Subjects :
- Agriculture
Bathing Beaches standards
Cities
Colony Count, Microbial
Disasters
Enterobacteriaceae isolation & purification
Enterococcus isolation & purification
Escherichia coli isolation & purification
Feces microbiology
Geography
Oceans and Seas
Population Dynamics
United Kingdom
Water Supply
Disinfection methods
Ecosystem
Sewage microbiology
Water Microbiology
Water Pollution analysis
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0043-1354
- Volume :
- 39
- Issue :
- 14
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Water research
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 16009396
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2005.05.043