Bacterial and Chemical Evidence of Coastal Water Pollution from the Tijuana River in Sea Spray Aerosol

Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2023 papers

Abstract

Roughly half of the human population lives near the coast, and coastal water pollution (CWP) is widespread. Coastal waters along Tijuana, Mexico, and Imperial Beach (IB), USA, are frequently polluted by millions of gallons of untreated sewage and stormwater runoff. Entering coastal waters causes over 100 million global annual illnesses, but CWP has the potential to reach many more people on land via transfer in sea spray aerosol (SSA). Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we found sewage-associated bacteria in the polluted Tijuana River flowing into coastal waters and returning to land in marine aerosol. Tentative chemical identification from non-targeted tandem mass spectrometry identified anthropogenic compounds as chemical indicators of aerosolized CWP, but they were ubiquitous and present at highest concentrations in continental aerosol. Bacteria were better tracers of airborne CWP, and 40 tracer bacteria comprised up to 76% of the bacteria community in IB air. These findings confirm that CWP transfers in SSA and exposes many people along the coast. Climate change may exacerbate CWP with more extreme storms, and our findings call for minimizing CWP and investigating the health effects of airborne exposure.

Related Papers

• → Laboratory experiments of phosphorus loss with surface runoff during simulated rainfall(2013)38 cited
• → Effects of rainfall and runoff-yield conditions on runoff(2020)16 cited
• → Transport and Distribution of Nutrients in the Runoff System of Urban Backfilled Soil(2018)2 cited
• Uncertainties of stormwater characteristics and removal rates of stormwater treatment facilities: Implications for stormwater treatment facilities: Implications for stormwater handling(2012)
• Storm water pollution control : municipal, industrial, and constructin NPDES compliance(1995)