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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Surface Water Quality

Resuspension of Sediment-Associated Escherichia coli in a Natural Stream

^a School of Engineering
^b Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N2G 2W1
^c Department of Geography, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N2G 2W1
^d Department of Engineering, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada B2N 5E3

^* Corresponding author (jamiesor{at}uoguelph.ca)

Received for publication May 25, 2004. In this study, a tracer bacteria was used to investigate the resuspension and persistence of sediment-associated bacteria in a small alluvial stream. The study was conducted in Swan Creek, located within the Grand River watershed of Ontario, Canada. A 1.1-m² section of the bed was seeded with a strain of Escherichia coli resistant to nalidixic acid (E. coli NAR). The survival, transport, and redistribution of the tracer bacteria within a 1.7-km river section downstream of the source cell was assessed for a 2-mo period following the introduction of the tracer bacteria. This study has illustrated that enteric bacteria can survive in bed sediments for up 6 wk and that inactivation of the tracer bacteria resembled typical first-order decay. Critical conditions for resuspension, as well as resuspension rates, of sediment-associated bacteria were determined for several storm events. The critical shear stress for E. coli NAR resuspension in Swan Creek ranged from 1.5 to 1.7 N m^–2, which is comparable with literature values for critical shear stresses for erosion of cohesive sediments. Bacteria resuspension was primarily limited to the rising limb of storm hydrographs implying that a finite supply of sediment-associated bacteria are available for resuspension during individual storm events. The information presented in this paper will further the development of representative microbial water quality models.

Abbreviations: E. coli NAR, Escherichia coli resistant to nalidixic acid

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