Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/K007890/1
Impact of sediment/water interactions on the microbiological quality of shellfish and bathing waters, a regulatory and public health perspective
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor WH Gaze, University of Exeter, Peninsula Medical School
- Grant held at:
- University of Exeter, Peninsula Medical School
- Science Area:
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Marine
- ENRIs:
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- Storm events impact water quality of Bathing and Shellfish Waters in the UK despite high levels of investment over the last twenty years. This has adverse effects on public health, regulatory compliance and commercial impact upon users of the marine environment. Whilst catchment source apportionment models using faecal indicator organisms are valuable tools they tend not to reflect pathogen behaviour and do not fully encompass in-situ sediment/water interactions. The proposed study aims to look at the significance of the sediment microbial reservoir and the relationship between storm conditions and sediment-water fluxes. ECEHH is the academic partner with a comprehensive analytical capability and research expertise. The CASE partner 'AquaProva' is a commercial partnership between Aquatic Water Services Ltd (AWS) and the National Laboratory Services (NLS), part of the Environment Agency, who provide industrial and regulatory relevance to the project. Through a combination of fieldwork and microcosm experiments the proposed research aims to explore the settlement, decay and resuspension potential for E. coli and norovirus. Microcosm trials at ECEHH will test rates of microbial adsorption upon a range of organic and inorganic suspended solids types under different physiochemical conditions reflecting estuarine conditions to assess microbial removal mechanisms through settlement. UV transmittance through various suspended solid mixtures will be measured in order to help assess the potential for inactivation. Shellfish uptake rates from microbial spiked suspended solids including microalgae will also be studied. ECEHH has wet room and analytical facilities including access to MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, which will be used for high resolution E. coli typing and source tracking. Norovirus testing of shellfish, waters and sediments will be performed at the NLS laboratory where novel methods for norovirus detection will be developed. A model catchment will be studied utilising a range of monitoring tools including rainfall, Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) spills, microbial loading from water courses and in-situ measurements within receiving waters. In addition it is proposed to assess the potential value of deposited sediments as a source apportionment tool. The proposed research is intended to explore whether the current retrospective regulatory regimes for shellfish and bathing waters maybe disproportionately affected by the impact of extreme events rather and the mean quality. Fieldwork will attempt to assess the magnitude of the sediment microbial reservoir and its potential role as a microbial source or sink. The project will therefore explore whether storm derived perturbations of the sediment microbial reservoir may have been underestimated in current catchment models. Whilst environmental quality strategy aims to improve water quality by reducing E. coli loading there is uncertainty whether schemes designed for extreme events are sustainable from a cost-benefit perspective. It is suggested that research focussed upon storm event loading and sediment/water interactions may help provide a better understanding of the relative marine environmental behaviour of E. coli and norovirus. This could help target appropriate monitoring regimes to inform loading risk assessment (i.e CSO spill data and norovirus titre in wastewaters) and in-situ surrogate measurements (i.e salinity, turbidity or received UV dose). Real-time monitoring of an array of parameters could form the basis of HACCP tools to enable regulators and industry to develop an active management model. With climate change predictions indicating an increase in storm intensity and frequency there is a pressing need to develop flexible mitigation measures for storm impacts in the future. This proposal relates to several of NERC's priority areas including "water", "food and agriculture","environmental monitoring" and ecosystem services.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/K007890/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Open CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £71,041
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - RTSG | Total - Student Stipend |
|---|---|---|
| £13,978 | £7,871 | £49,194 |
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