IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i12p5207-d376577.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Microbial Water Quality Conditions Associated with Livestock Grazing, Recreation, and Rural Residences in Mixed-Use Landscapes

Author

Listed:
  • Kelsey L. Derose

    (Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA)

  • Leslie M. Roche

    (Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA)

  • David F. Lile

    (Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA)

  • Danny J. Eastburn

    (Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA)

  • Kenneth W. Tate

    (Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA)

Abstract

Contamination of surface waters with microbial pollutants from fecal sources is a significant human health issue. Identification of relative fecal inputs from the mosaic of potential sources common in rural watersheds is essential to effectively develop and deploy mitigation strategies. We conducted a cross-sectional longitudinal survey of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) concentrations associated with extensive livestock grazing, recreation, and rural residences in three rural, mountainous watersheds in California, USA during critical summer flow conditions. Overall, we found that 86% to 87% of 77 stream sample sites across the study area were below contemporary Escherichia coli- based microbial water quality standards. FIB concentrations were lowest at recreation sites, followed closely by extensive livestock grazing sites. Elevated concentrations and exceedance of water quality standards were highest at sites associated with rural residences, and at intermittently flowing stream sites. Compared to national and state recommended E. coli -based water quality standards, antiquated rural regional policies based on fecal coliform concentrations overestimated potential fecal contamination by as much as four orders of magnitude in this landscape, hindering the identification of the most likely fecal sources and thus the efficient targeting of mitigation practices to address them.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelsey L. Derose & Leslie M. Roche & David F. Lile & Danny J. Eastburn & Kenneth W. Tate, 2020. "Microbial Water Quality Conditions Associated with Livestock Grazing, Recreation, and Rural Residences in Mixed-Use Landscapes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-17, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5207-:d:376577
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5207/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/5207/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David J. Lewis & Dylan Voeller & Tina L. Saitone & Kenneth W. Tate, 2019. "Management Scale Assessment of Practices to Mitigate Cattle Microbial Water Quality Impairments of Coastal Waters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-10, October.
    2. Xue, Fei & Tang, Jialiang & Dong, Zhixin & Shen, Dong & Liu, Haowen & Zhang, Xifeng & Holden, Nicholas M., 2018. "Tempo-spatial controls of total coliform and E. coli contamination in a subtropical hilly agricultural catchment," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 10-18.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sheila Barry & Lynn Huntsinger, 2021. "Rangeland Land-Sharing, Livestock Grazing’s Role in the Conservation of Imperiled Species," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Horak, Cristina Natalia & Assef, Yanina Andrea & Miserendino, María Laura, 2019. "Assessing effects of confined animal production systems on water quality, ecological integrity, and macroinvertebrates at small piedmont streams (Patagonia, Argentina)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 242-253.
    2. Ermanno Affuso & John Reid Cummings & Donald Alex Beebe & Steven R. Schultze, 2022. "Endogenous, Regime-Switching Hedonic Estimation of Commercial Waterway Water Quality Impact on Home Values in the Alabama Black Belt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:5207-:d:376577. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.