Distinct bacterial communities in tropical island aquifers.

The groundwater biome is a poorly characterized habitat hypothesized to harbor uniquely diverse bacterial communities; the degree to which these communities differ from associated soils is a central question in environmental microbiology. We characterized the Bacterial community composition in 37 aquifer and 32 surface soil samples across the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i. Several bacterial phyla (Acetothermia, Omnitrophica, Parcubacteria, Peregrinibacteria) relatively abundant in the aquifer samples were rare to absent in the soils.

Rainwater harvesting in American Samoa: current practices and indicative health risks.

Roof-harvested rainwater (RHRW) is an important alternative source of water that many island communities can use for drinking and other domestic purposes when groundwater and/or surface water sources are contaminated, limited, or simply not available. The aim of this pilot-scale study was to investigate current RHRW practices in American Samoa (AS) and to evaluate and compare the quality of water from common potable water sources including RHRW stored in tanks, untreated stream water, untreated municipal well water, and treated municipal tap water samples. Samples were analyzed using culture-based methods, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and 16S amplicon sequencing-based methods.

Multiple lines of evidence to identify sewage as the cause of water quality impairment in an urbanized tropical watershed.

Indicator bacteria, which are conventionally used to evaluate recreational water quality, can originate from various non-human enteric and extra-enteric sources, hence they may not be indicative of human health risk nor do they provide information on the sources of contamination. In this study we utilized traditional (enterococci and Escherichia coli) and alternative (Clostridium perfringens) indicator bacteria, F-specific coliphage, molecular markers for microorganisms associated with human sewage (human-associated Bacteroides and polyomaviruses), and microbial community analysis tools (16S rRNA gene fragment amplicon sequencing), to identify and evaluate human sewage-related impact in the Manoa watershed in Honolulu, Hawaii. Elevated concentrations of enterococci (geometric mean ranging from 1604 to 2575 CFU 100 mL) and C.

Human-Associated Bacteroides spp. and Human Polyomaviruses as Microbial Source Tracking Markers in Hawaii.

Unlabelled: Identification of sources of fecal contaminants is needed to (i) determine the health risk associated with recreational water use and (ii) implement appropriate management practices to mitigate this risk and protect the environment. This study evaluated human-associated Bacteroides spp. (HF183TaqMan) and human polyomavirus (HPyV) markers for host sensitivity and specificity using human and animal fecal samples collected in Hawaii.

Effects of soil moisture depletion on vegetable crop uptake of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs).

Agricultural crops have a long history of being irrigated with recycled wastewater (RW). However, its use on vegetable crops has been of concern due to the potential prevalence of microcontaminants, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in the latter, which represents a possible health hazard to consumers. We investigated the uptake of three PPCPs (atenolol, diclofenac, and ofloxacin), at three different concentrations in irrigation water (0.

Mobility of 2-amino-4,6-dinitrobenzoic acid, a photodegradation product of TNT in a tropical soil under saturated abiotic conditions.

We examined the mobility of 2-amino-4,6-dinitrobenzoic acid (2-A-4,6-DBA) a common photodegradation product of TNT, in soil taken from a former military training area on Oahu Island, Hawaii, USA. 2-A-4,6-DBA is stable and polar and has the potential to migrate to groundwater. Little experimentation has been conducted on explosives in tropical soils which differ chemically from soils in temperate climates.