Abstract

The goal of this study was to compare two methods for assessment of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in urban runoff (n = 96), stormwater (n = 8), and wastewater (n = 16). We quantified the densities and reductions of E. coli and Enterococcus, in raw stormwater, treated urban off from the Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility (SMURRF) and wastewater from the Eastern Municipal Water District’s (EMWD) Moreno Valley water reclamation facility. We compared the overall FIB recovery efficiency by two varieties of USEPA-approved, culture-based laboratory methods in each type of water. The two types of methods were the IDEXX Quanti-Tray technique and the USEPA membrane filtration methods 1603 and 1600. All results showed the expected reduction of FIB densities across treatment processes. Among the raw influent water, the FIB in urban runoff had the lowest FIB density, followed by the stormwater, with the highest densities in the wastewater. We used the Wilcoxon signed rank test to compare recovery efficiency of the membrane methods versus the IDEXX methods. The IDEXX methods detected significantly higher levels in the raw stormwater, and in all treatment stages of tertiary-treated wastewater and of urban runoff, except in the raw urban runoff, where the USEPA method 1603 detected a higher density.

LLU Discipline

Biology

Department

Basic Sciences

School

School of Medicine

First Advisor

Sinclair, Ryan G.

Second Advisor

Dunbar, Stephen G.

Third Advisor

Phillips, Suzanne

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Level

M.S.

Year Degree Awarded

2017

Date (Title Page)

12-2017

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Water Microbiology; Water Pollutants; Water Purification; Sanitary Microbiology; Sanitary Engineering

Subject - Local

Wastewater; Stormwater; Urban Runoff

Type

Thesis

Page Count

71

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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