Microbial Source Tracking in a Mixed Use Watershed in Northern Virginia

Prince William County, located in the rapidly developing Northern Virginia region, contains watersheds of mixed rural and urban/suburban uses. As part of Virginia regulations, recreational waters must be tested and remain under a certain standard for levels of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB). The sources of fecal pollution in neighboring watersheds within the county were determined over the 12 months previous to this project by performing Antibiotic Resistance Analysis (ARA, a microbial source tracking protocol) on Enterococcus and Escherichia coli (E. coli). This study indicated that multiple sources of pollution were present at all sampling locations and that the dominant sources of contamination were related to the land-use patterns and human activities that were adjacent to each location. The goal of the current project was to monitor and identify the sources of fecal pollution in eight streams in the Occoquan Basin (OQB) that have been classified as impaired waters due to high E. coli concentrations. Project objectives were i) employ microbial source tracking technology to identify the categories of sources that wer