Improving fluorometry as a source tracking method to detect human fecal contamination

In a continuing effort to develop inexpensive source tracking methods to detect human fecal contamination in environmental waters, targeted sampling was combined with fluorometry. Targeted sampling works by identifying hot spots of fecal contamination through multiple samplings over ever-decreasing distances. Fluorometry identifies human fecal contamination by detecting optical brighteners, primarily from laundry detergents. Because organic matter fluoresces and interferes with fluorometry, two locations were chosen for sampling: waters relatively low in organic matter at Mayaguez Bay, Puerto Rico, and waters relatively high in organic matter at St. Simons Island, Georgia. In Puerto Rico, targeted sampling and fluorometry quickly and easily identified two hot spots of human fecal contamination in the Yaguez River, which flows through the city of Mayaguez. Another source tracking method, detection of the esp gene, confirmed their human origin. On St. Simons Island, targeted sampling and fluorometry identified two hot spots of potential human fecal contamination. Detection of the esp gene confirmed the human origin of one site but not the other, most likely because background organic matter fluorescence interfered with fluorometry. A separate experiment showed that adding a 436-nm emission filter to the fluorometer reduced this background fluorescence by > 50%. With the 436-nm filter in place, another sampling was conducted on St. Simons Island, and the second hot spot was identified as fecal contamination from birds. As long as the fluorometer was equipped with a 436-nm filter and organic matter concentrations were considered, targeted sampling combined with fluorometry was a relatively inexpensive method for identifying human fecal contamination in water.