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Transport of Antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli Through Western Oregon Hillslope Soils Under Conditions of Saturated Flow¹

ABSTRACT

Field experiments using strains of antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli were conducted to evaluate the events which would occur when a septic-tank drainfield became submerged in a perched water table and fecal bacteria were subsequently released into the ground water. Three separately distinguishable bacterial strains were inoculated into three horizontal lines installed in the A, B, and C horizons of two western Oregon hillslope soils. Movement was evaluated by collecting ground water samples from rows of modified piezometers (six piezometers/row) placed at various depths and distances downslope from the injection lines. Transport of E. coli differed at both sites with respect to movement rates, zones in the soil profiles through which major translocation occurred, and the relative numbers of cells transported over time. Movement rates of at least 1,500 cm/hour were observed in the B horizon at one site. The strains of E. coli survived in large numbers in the soils examined for at least 96 hours and appeared to be satisfactory as tracers of subsurface water flow. The concept of partial displacement (or turbulent flow through macropores) is discussed as an explanation of the rapid movement of substantial numbers of microbial cells through saturated profiles.

Key Words: fecal coliforms • ground water pollution • waste disposal • septic-tank drainfields

¹ Contribution from the Oregon State Agric. Exp. Stn., Tech. Pap. no. 4773. research supported by Oregon Water Resour. Res. Inst.

² Research Assistant, Assistant Professor, Research Assistant, and Assistant Professor, respectively, Dep. of Soil Sci. and Microbiol., Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR 97331.

Received for publication March 15, 1978.

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