Stormwater Investigation
Stormwater systems are needed to reduce flooding and deliver rain runoff to nearby water bodies. They should not contain human sewage. Unfortunately, stormwater systems can have unrecognized cross-connections directly with sanitary sewers. Others have aging pipes with cracks where raw sewage from adjacent leaking sanitary sewers can infiltrate into the stormwater system.
Microbial source tracking techniques are among the best tools to detect human sewage in stormwater. Edge-Water DNA can determine if high numbers of E. coli bacteria in stormwater are from sewage or an animal runoff source like bird or dog fecal droppings. We can also assess the magnitude of the sewage problem, enabling a more reliable ranking of priority stormwater problems to remediate.
Some stormwater microbial source tracking studies:
