In this study, the host-specificity and -sensitivity of human- and bovine-specific adenoviruses (HS-AVs and BS-AVs) were evaluated by testing wastewater/fecal samples from various animal species in Southeast, Queensland, Australia. The overall specificity and sensitivity of the HS-AVs marker were 1.0 and 0.78, respectively. These figures for the BS-AVs were 1.0 and 0.73, respectively. Twenty environmental water samples were collected during wet conditions and 20 samples were colleted during dry conditions from the Maroochy Coastal River and tested for the presence of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), host-specific viral markers, zoonotic bacterial and protozoan pathogens using PCR/qPCR. The concentrations of FIB in water samples collected after wet conditions were generally higher compared to dry conditions. HS-AVs was detected in 20% water samples collected during wet conditions and whereas BS-AVs was detected in both wet (i.e., 10%) and dry (i.e., 10%) conditions. Both Campylobacter jejuni mapA and Salmonella invA genes detected in 10% samples collected during dry conditions. The concentrations of Salmonella invA ranged between 3.5 × 102 and 4.3 × 102 genomic copies per 500 ml of water Giardia lamblia β-giardin gene was detected only in one sample (5%) collected during the dry conditions. Weak or significant correlations were observed between FIB with viral markers and zoonotic pathogens. However, during dry conditions, no significant correlations were observed between FIB concentrations with viral markers and zoonotic pathogens. The prevalence of HS-AVs in samples collected from the study river suggests that the quality of water is affected by human fecal pollution and as well as bovine fecal pollution. The results suggest that HS-AVs and BS-AVs detection using PCR could be a useful tool for the identification of human sourced fecal pollution in coastal waters.

Abstract

This paper presents the outcomes of a study which focused on evaluating roof surfaces as stormwater harvesting catchments. Build-up and wash-off samples were collected from model roof surfaces. The collected build-up samples were separated into fi ve different particle size ranges prior to the analysis of physico-chemical parameters. Study outcomes showed that roof surfaces are effi cient catchment surfaces for the deposition of fi ne particles which travel over long distances. Roof surfaces contribute relatively high pollutant loads to the runoff and hence signifi cantly infl uence the quality of the harvested rainwater. Pollutants associated with solids build-up on roof surfaces can vary with time, even with minimal changes to total solids load and particle size distribution. It is postulated that this variability is due to changes in distant atmospheric pollutant sources and wind patterns. The study highlighted the requirement for first flush devices to divert the highly polluted initial portion of roof runoff. Furthermore, it is highly recommended to not to harvest runoff from small intensity rainfall events since there is a high possibility that the runoff would contain a significant amount of pollutants even after the initial runoff fraction.