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Evaluation of Two Techniques: mFC AND mTEC for Determining Distributions of Fecal Pollution in Small, North Carolina Tidal Creeks

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Abstract

Most tidal creeks in North Carolina are closed or partially closed to shellfishing. These creeks often remain closed due to the inability to determine sources of fecal pollution. This study was designed for intensive fecal coliform monitoring of Futch Creek, N.C., to try and determine sources(s) of fecal pollution. Futch Creek is a mildly polluted tidal creek, with marginal levels of fecal coliforms and could potentially be reopened. Problems in interpreting levels of fecal coliforms and pollution risks are two fold and were extremely pronounced in this study. First, several environmental factors have been shown to influence levels of fecal coliforms. Therefore, effects of temperature, salinity, tidal cycles, and rain events on fecal coliform counts were examined. There were higher fecal coliform levels in the warmer temperatures. There was a strong inverse relationship with salinity, with highest fecal coliform counts in the 10–14 g L-1 range for both the mFC and mTEC counts with no apparent source of pollution. This trend was also observed in three other tidal creeks. Tidal cycles did affect fecal coliform counts with substantially higher counts during low tide and appeared to be more important than rain events. It is apparent that when evaluating several stations in a creek, samples must be taken during the same tidal cycle stage in order to have comparative data. Counts obtained using the mTEC method were consistently higher than mFC counts in all salinity ranges. Basic taxonomic tests were performed on fecal coliforms isolated from three salinity regimes: 0 g L-1, 10–14 g L-1, and 23–26 g L-1. The mFC method in the 10–14 g L-1 (45%) and 23–26 g L-1 (70%) salinity range had the highest incidence of false-positive counts (non E. coli). The mTEC method also had the highest incidence of false-positive counts in the 23–26 g L-1 (27%) and 10–14 g L-1 (24%), none as high as the mFC method. Therefore, the mTEC method appears to be the better of the two but is still not an ideal approach.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA

    E. Cartier Esham & Ronald K. Sizemore

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  1. E. Cartier Esham
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  2. Ronald K. Sizemore
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Cartier Esham, E., Sizemore, R.K. Evaluation of Two Techniques: mFC AND mTEC for Determining Distributions of Fecal Pollution in Small, North Carolina Tidal Creeks. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 106, 179–197 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004985123942

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