AWWA WQTC71653

The relationship between traditional water quality variables and pathogenoccurrence in source water is unclear. Through funding from the National Agri-Environmental Standards Initiative (NAESI), under Canada's Agricultural PolicyFramework, four agricultural watersheds in Canada were surveyed for pathogens,bacterial water quality indicators, and a suite of physico-chemical water quality indicatorsto better understand these relationships. Water samples were collected bi-weekly duringthe spring, summer and fall seasons at 27 sites across all 4 watersheds and tested for theseparameters. Statistical analyses, such as descriptive and univariate statistics, probabilityanalysis and regression (multiple linear/logistic regression) were used to ascertain therelationship between water quality parameters and pathogen occurrence in the context ofexisting standards of source water quality. Overall, there was lack of spatio-temporalconsistency or robustness in the correlative relationships between pathogen andtraditional water quality indicators. Statistical approaches involving probability analysesprovided some important insights about occurrence of pathogens in relation to generalwater quality in watersheds. The data suggests that each watershed is unique with respectto the spatio-temporal occurrence of pathogens, features which are important forunderstanding applications and approaches for quantitative microbial risk assessment. Includes 8 references, tables, figure.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

11/01/2009

Number of Pages:

11

File Size:

1 file , 1.3 MB