Tracking Fecal Bacterial Dispersion from Municipal Wastewater to Peri-Urban Farms during Monsoon Rains in Hue City, Vietnam

Windra Prayoga, Masateru Nishiyama, Susan Praise, Dung Viet Pham, Hieu Van Duong, Lieu Khac Pham, Loc Thi Thanh Dang and Toru Watanabe
Additional contact information
Windra Prayoga: United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Iwate University, 18-8 Ueda 3-Chome, Morioka 020-8850, Japan
Masateru Nishiyama: Department of Food, Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University, 1-23 Wakaba-Machi, Tsuruoka 997-8555, Japan
Susan Praise: Department of Food, Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University, 1-23 Wakaba-Machi, Tsuruoka 997-8555, Japan
Dung Viet Pham: Department of Food, Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University, 1-23 Wakaba-Machi, Tsuruoka 997-8555, Japan
Hieu Van Duong: Faculty of Environmental Science, University of Sciences, Hue University, 77 Nguyen Hue St., Hue City 49100, Vietnam
Lieu Khac Pham: Faculty of Environmental Science, University of Sciences, Hue University, 77 Nguyen Hue St., Hue City 49100, Vietnam
Loc Thi Thanh Dang: Faculty of Environmental Science, University of Sciences, Hue University, 77 Nguyen Hue St., Hue City 49100, Vietnam
Toru Watanabe: Department of Food, Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamagata University, 1-23 Wakaba-Machi, Tsuruoka 997-8555, Japan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 18, 1-18

Abstract: Disease outbreaks attributed to monsoon flood-induced pathogen exposure are frequently reported, especially in developing cities with poor sanitation. Contamination levels have been monitored in past studies, yet the sources, routes, and extents of contamination are not always clear. We evaluated pollution from municipal wastewater (MWW) discharge and investigated fecal contamination by Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) in three agricultural fields on the outskirts of Hue City, Vietnam. After E. coli concentration was determined in irrigation water (IRW), MWW, soil, vegetables (VEG), and manure, its dispersion from MWW was tracked using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and phylogenetic analyses during the wet and dry seasons. IRW was severely contaminated; 94% of the samples were positive with E. coli exceeding the stipulated standards, while VEG contamination was very low in both seasons. The confirmed total number of isolates was comparable between the seasons; however, results from MLST and phylogenetic clustering revealed more links between the sites and samples to MWW during the wet season. The wet season had four mixed clusters of E. coli isolates from multiple locations and samples linked to MWW, while only one mixed cluster also linking MWW to IRW was observed during the dry season. The most prevalent sequence type (ST) complex 10 and two others (40 and 155) have been associated with disease outbreaks, while other STs have links to major pathotypes. Irrigation canals are significant routes for E. coli dispersion through direct links to the urban drainage-infested river. This study clarified the genotype of E . coli in Hue city, and the numerous links between the samples and sites revealed MWW discharge as the source of E. coli contamination that was enhanced by flooding.

Keywords: E. coli contamination; agricultural farms; multilocus sequence typing; urban drainage; flooding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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