Inter-storm dissolved organic matter variability and its role in microbial transport during urban runoff events
Date
2012
Authors
Aryal, R.
Sidhu, J.
Chong, M.N.
Toze, S.
Keller, J.
Gernjak, W.
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Conference paper
Citation
WSUD 2012 : water sensitive urban design ; building the water sensitive community ; 7th International Conference on Water Sensitive Urban Design, 2012, pp.1-8
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7th International Conference on Water Sensitive Urban Design (21 Feb 2012 - 23 Feb 2012 : Melbourne, Victoria)
Abstract
At present major challenges in stormwater harvestin g and reuse remain on the characterization of non-point source pollutants, especially microbial p athogens, and the associated public health risks due to the intrinsic short-term acute health risks. Due to the negative surface charge of most microbes, their transport in urban stormwater often relies on the attachment to particulate matter, suspended solids and organic matter. In this study, the transport behavior of two microbes, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus spp. and their relationship with dissolved organic matt er present in stormwater were investigated over five stormwate r runoff events collected from a medium density residential urban catchment in South East Q ueensland. Analyses on organic matter included hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions. The hydrophillic substances were further fractionated into humic substances, building blocks and low molecular weight organics. Escherichia coli numbers of 3.6x10 3 cfu 100mL -1 were detected in the stormwater runoff, while Enterococcus spp. numbers as high as 3x 10 4 cfu 100mL -1 were detected. The mean dissolved organic carbon in the stormwater samples was 5.1±1.9 mg/L in which hydrophilic const ituted the highest mass fraction (60-80%). Results showed that microbial transport was hindere d by an increase of the hydrophilic organics fraction, especially the humic fraction.
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Copyright 2012 Engineers Australia