| Peer-Reviewed

Characterization of Bacterial Populations in Urban and Rural Houston Watershed Soil Samples Following a Flooding Event

Received: 11 February 2021     Accepted: 24 February 2021     Published: 12 March 2021
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

Since Houston is prone to flooding events, bacterial population dynamics in Houston watershed soils pre- and post-Hurricane Harvey were evaluated. Unexpectedly, bayous closer to Houston’s urban core, including Buffalo, Halls, Mustang, and Horsepen Bayous, had significantly higher enteric bacterial loads during the winter than the summer, likely due to water flow rate changes or proximity to wastewater outflow. Following bacterial load determination, isolated colonies were identified using biochemical tests. Additionally, metagenomic sequencing of 16S rDNA allowed for identification of both culturable and unculturable organisms. The phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes and Firmicutes were found to be dominant in our metagenomic analysis and are human gut bacteria. Some opportunistic bacterial Proteobacteria pathogens identified in our metabolomic analysis were Serratia marcenscens, Pseudomonas mendocina, Pseudomonas fulva, and Pseudomonas putida. To our knowledge, this is the first study that compares Houston-area bacterial populations before and after a major flooding event. Taken together, Hurricane Harvey likely contributed to a redistribution of enteric bacteria, as there was a significant increase in the enteric population of Buffalo and Halls Bayous. Similarly, our 2018 winter data set followed the same trend, as significant increases were seen in the enteric populations of Horsepen, Mustang, and Cypress Creek watershed soils.

Published in Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology (Volume 7, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14
Page(s) 22-34
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Enteric Bacteria, Environmental Isolates, Biochemical Analysis, Metagenomic, GIS

References
[1] Ahmed, W., Hamilton, K., Toze, S., Cook, S., & Page, D. (2019). A review on microbial contaminants in storm water runoff and outfalls: Potential health risks and mitigation strategies. The Science of the total environment, 692, 1304–1321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.055.
[2] Arnone, R. D., & Perdek Walling, J. (2007). Waterborne pathogens in urban watersheds. Journal of Water and Health, 5 (1), 149-162.
[3] Auld, H., MacIver, D., & Klaassen, J. (2004). Heavy rainfall and waterborne disease outbreaks: the Walkerton example. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 67 (20-22), 1879-1887.
[4] Barberán, A., Bates, S. T., Casamayor, E. O., & Fierer, N. (2012). Using network analysis to explore co-occurrence patterns in soil microbial communities. The ISME journal, 6 (2), 343-351.
[5] Brinkmeyer, R., Amon, R. M., Schwarz, J. R., Saxton, T., Roberts, D., Harrison, S. & Duan, S. (2015). Distribution and persistence of Escherichia coli and Enterococci in stream bed and bank sediments from two urban streams in Houston, TX. Science of the Total Environment, 502, 650-658.
[6] Çelebi, A., Şengörür, B., & Kløve, B. (2014). Human health risk assessment of dissolved metals in groundwater and surface waters in the Melen watershed, Turkey. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A, 49 (2), 153-161.
[7] Chellam, S., Sharma, R. R., Shetty, G. R., & Wei, Y. (2008). Nanofiltration of pretreated Lake Houston water: disinfection by-product speciation, relationships, and control. Separation and Purification Technology, 64 (2), 160-169.
[8] Chu, Y., Salles, C., Tournoud, M. G., Got, P., Troussellier, M., Rodier, C., & Caro, A. (2011). Faecal bacterial loads during flood events in Northwestern Mediterranean coastal rivers. Journal of Hydrology, 405 (3-4), 501-511.
[9] Desai, A. M., Rifai, H., Helfer, E., Moreno, N., & Stein, R. (2010). Statistical investigations into indicator bacteria concentrations in Houston metropolitan watersheds. Water Environment Research, 82 (4), 302-318.
[10] Desai, A. M., & Rifai, H. S. (2013). Escherichia coli concentrations in urban watersheds exhibit diurnal sag: Implications for water-quality monitoring and assessment. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 49 (4), 766-779.
[11] Dorner, S. M., Anderson, W. B., Slawson, R. M., Kouwen, N., & Huck, P. M. (2006). Hydrologic modeling of pathogen fate and transport. Environmental science & technology, 40 (15), 4746-4753
[12] ESRI. 2014. Arc GIS Desktop-Environmental Systems Research Institute: Release 10.3. Redlands, CA, USA.
[13] Ferris, M. J., Norori, J., Zozaya-Hinchliffe, M., & Martin, D. H. (2007). Cultivation-independent analysis of changes in bacterial vaginosis flora following metronidazole treatment. Journal of clinical microbiology, 45 (3), 1016-1018. k.
[14] Fong, T. T., Mansfield, L. S., Wilson, D. L., Schwab, D. J., Molloy, S. L., & Rose, J. B. (2007). Massive microbiological groundwater contamination associated with a waterborne outbreak in Lake Erie, South Bass Island, Ohio. Environmental health perspectives, 115 (6), 856-864.
[15] Gelting, R., Sarisky, J., Selman, C., Otto, C., Higgins, C., Bohan, P. O.,... & Meehan, P. J. (2005). Use of a systems-based approach to an environmental health assessment for a waterborne disease outbreak investigation at a snowmobile lodge in Wyoming. International journal of hygiene and environmental health, 208 (1-2), 67-73.
[16] Goto, D. K., & Yan, T. (2011). Genotypic diversity of Escherichia coli in the water and soil of tropical watersheds in Hawaii. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 77 (12), 3988-3997.
[17] Handbook of Texas Online, Robert Wooster, "BAYOU CITY," accessed October 29, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/etb01. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Modified on May 26, 2016. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[18] Handbook of Texas Online, "MUSTANG BAYOU," accessed May 09, 2020, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rhm05. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[19] Harris County Flood Control District HCFCD. (2015). Streambank Stabilization Handbook: A Guide for harris county Landowners. Retrieved from https://texasriparian.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/HCFCD-Streambank-Stabilization-Handbook.pdf.
[20] Harris County Flood Control District HCFCD. (2020). Buffalo Bayou. Harris County Flood Control District. Retrieved from https://www.hcfcd.org/Find-Your-Watershed/Buffalo-Bayou.
[21] Harris County Flood Control District HCFCD. (2020). Halls Bayou. Harris County Flood Control District. Retrieved from https://www.hcfcd.org/Find-Your-Watershed/Halls-Bayou.
[22] Harris County Flood Control District HCFCD. (2020). Hunting Bayou. Harris County Flood Control District. Retrieved from https://www.hcfcd.org/Find-Your-Watershed/Hunting-Bayou.
[23] Houston-Galveston Area Council (2002) Regional Land Cover Data. Houston-Galveston Area Council: Houston, Texas, http://www.h-gac. com/rds/land_use/default.aspx.
[24] Houston-Galveston Area Council (2008). Bacteria TMDLs for Halls Bayou Halls Bayou http://www.h-gac.com/watershed-based-plans/documents/houston-metro/houston-metro_11-10-08_presentation.pdf.
[25] Houston-Galveston Area Council (2015). How’s the Water? H-GAC, Basin Highlights Report. Retrieved from https://www.h-gac.com/clean-rivers-program/documents/2015%20BHR%20FINAL_Abridged%20Version.pdf.
[26] Islam, M. M., Hofstra, N., & Islam, M. A. (2017). The impact of environmental variables on faecal indicator bacteria in the Betna river basin, Bangladesh. Environmental Processes, 4 (2), 319-332.
[27] Jean, J. S., Guo, H. R., Chen, S. H., Liu, C. C., Chang, W. T., Yang, Y. J., & Huang, M. C. (2006). The association between rainfall rate and occurrence of an enterovirus epidemic due to a contaminated well. Journal of applied microbiology, 101 (6), 1224-1231.
[28] Jeamsripong, S., Chuanchuen, R., & Atwill, E. R. (2018). Assessment of Bacterial Accumulation and Environmental Factors in Sentinel Oysters and Estuarine Water Quality from the Phang Nga Estuary Area in Thailand. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15 (9), 1970. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15091970.
[29] Kistemann, T., Claßen, T., Koch, C., Dangendorf, F., Fischeder, R., Gebel, J. & Exner, M. (2002). Microbial load of drinking water reservoir tributaries during extreme rainfall and runoff. Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 68 (5), 2188-2197.
[30] Lalancette, C., Papineau, I., Payment, P., Dorner, S., Servais, P., Barbeau, B., & Prévost, M. (2014). Changes in Escherichia coli to Cryptosporidium ratios for various fecal pollution sources and drinking water intakes. Water research, 55, 150-161.
[31] Lee, D. Y., Lee, H., Trevors, J. T., Weir, S. C., Thomas, J. L., & Habash, M. (2014). Characterization of sources and loadings of fecal pollutants using microbial source tracking assays in urban and rural areas of the Grand River Watershed, Southwestern Ontario. Water research, 53, 123-131.
[32] Lukinmaa, S., NAKARI, U. M., Eklund, M., & Siitonen, A. (2004). Application of molecular genetic methods in diagnostics and epidemiology of food-borne bacterial pathogens. Apmis, 112 (11-12), 908-929.
[33] Mhuantong, W., Wongwilaiwalin, S., Laothanachareon, T., Eurwilaichitr, L., Tangphatsornruang, S., Boonchayaanant, B. & Khan, E. (2015). Survey of microbial diversity in flood areas during Thailand 2011 flood crisis using high-throughput tagged amplicon pyrosequencing. PloS one, 10 (5).
[34] Nataro, J. P., & Kaper, J. B. (1998). Diarrheagenic escherichia coli. Clinical microbiology reviews, 11 (1), 142-201.
[35] Olds, H. T., Corsi, S. R., Dila, D. K., Halmo, K. M., Bootsma, M. J., & McLellan, S. L. (2018). High levels of sewage contamination released from urban areas after storm events: A quantitative survey with sewage specific bacterial indicators. PLoS medicine, 15 (7), e1002614. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002614.
[36] Olivera, F., & DeFee, B. B. (2007). Urbanization and Its Effect on Runoff in the Whiteoak Bayou Watershed, Texas 1. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 43 (1), 170-182.
[37] O'Neill, S., Adhikari, A. R., Gautam, M. R., & Acharya, K. (2013). Bacterial contamination due to point and nonpoint source pollution in a rapidly growing urban center in an arid region. Urban Water Journal, 10 (6), 411-421.
[38] Pandey, P. K., Kass, P. H., Soupir, M. L., Biswas, S., & Singh, V. P. (2014). Contamination of water resources by pathogenic bacteria. AMB Express, 4, 51. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13568-014-0051-x.
[39] Pandey, P. K., Soupir, M. L., Haddad, M., & Rothwell, J. J. (2012). Assessing the impacts of watershed indexes and precipitation on spatial in-stream E. coli concentrations. Ecological indicators, 23, 641-652.
[40] Quigg, A., Broach, L., Denton, W., & Miranda, R. (2009). Water quality in the Dickinson Bayou watershed (Texas, Gulf of Mexico) and health issues. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 58 (6), 896-904.
[41] Rifai, H. (2007). Total Maximum Daily Loads for Fecal Bacteria in the Dickinson Bayou Final Historical Data Review and Analysis Report Revision http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/compliance/monitoring/water/quality/data/08twqi/twqi08.htm Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
[42] Rogers, G. O., & Defee Ii, B. B. (2005). Long-term impact of development on a watershed: early indicators of future problems. Landscape and Urban Planning, 73 (2-3), 215-233.
[43] Sipes, J. L., & Zeve, M. K. (2012). The Bayous of Houston. Arcadia Publishing.
[44] Sneck-Fahrer, D. A., Milburn, M. S., East, J. W., & Oden, J. H. (2005). Water-Quality Assessment of Lake Houston near Houston, Texas, 2000-2004 (No. 2005-5241). US Geological Survey.
[45] Stocker, M. D., Rodriguez-Valentin, J. G., Pachepsky, Y. A., & Shelton, D. R. (2016). Spatial and temporal variation of fecal indicator organisms in two creeks in Beltsville, Maryland. Water Quality Research Journal of Canada, 51 (2), 167-179.
[46] Teague, A., Christian, J., & Bedient, P. (2013). Radar rainfall application in distributed hydrologic modeling for Cypress Creek watershed, Texas. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 18 (2), 219-227.
[47] Texas Coastal Watershed Program. 2008. Land Use Classification GIS layer. Available at www.urban-nature.org.
[48] Texas Commission on Environmental Quality water quality 2018 https://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/waterquality/standards/tswqs2018/2018swqs_allsections_nopreamble.pdf. From https://www.tceq.texas.gov/waterquality/standards/2018-surface-water-quality-standards.
[49] Thomas, P., Sekhar, A. C., Upreti, R., Mujawar, M. M., & Pasha, S. S. (2015). Optimization of single plate-serial dilution spotting (SP-SDS) with sample anchoring as an assured method for bacterial and yeast cfu enumeration and single colony isolation from diverse samples. Biotechnology Reports, 8, 45-55.
[50] Tiefenthaler, L. L., Stein, E. D., & Lyon, G. S. (2009). Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) levels during dry weather from Southern California reference streams. Environmental monitoring and assessment, 155 (1-4), 477-492.
[51] United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). (2000). “Bacterial indicator tool user’s guide.” EPA-832-B-01-003, Washington, D.C.
[52] U.S. EPA 2012a. Water Quality Standards Handbook: Second Edition. EPA-823-B-12-002; March 2012. Retrieved November 13, 2012 from http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/standards/handbook/index.cfm.
[53] U.S. EPA 2012b. Method 1611: Enterococci in Water by TaqMan® Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) Assay. EPA-821-R-12-008. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-10/documents/rwqc2012.pdf.
[54] U.S. Geological Survey. Geographic Names Phase I data compilation (1976-1981). 31-Dec-1981. Primarily from U.S. Geological Survey 1:24,000-scale topographic maps (or 1:25K, Puerto Rico 1:20K) and from U.S. Board on Geographic Names files. In some instances, from 1:62,500 scale or 1:250,000 scale maps.
[55] Van Loon, A. F., Ploum, S. W., Parajka, J., Fleig, A. K., Garnier, E., Laaha, G., & Van Lanen, H. A. J. (2015). Hydrological drought types in cold climates: quantitative analysis of causing factors and qualitative survey of impacts. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 19 (4), 1993.
[56] Wilkes, G., Brassard, J., Edge, T. A., Gannon, V., Gottschall, N., Jokinen, C. C., Jones, T. H., Khan, I. U., Marti, R., Sunohara, M. D., Topp, E., & Lapen, D. R. (2014). Long-term monitoring of waterborne pathogens and microbial source tracking markers in paired agricultural watersheds under controlled and conventional tile drainage management. Applied and environmental microbiology, 80 (12), 3708–3720. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00254-14.
[57] Whitman, R. L., Nevers, M. B., & Byappanahalli, M. N. (2006). Examination of the watershed-wide distribution of Escherichia coli along Southern Lake Michigan: an integrated approach. Applied and environmental microbiology, 72 (11), 7301–7310. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00454-06.
[58] Wu, C. H., Sercu, B., Van de Werfhorst, L. C., Wong, J., DeSantis, T. Z., Brodie, E. L., Hazen, T. C., Holden, P. A., & Andersen, G. L. (2010). Characterization of coastal urban watershed bacterial communities leads to alternative community-based indicators. PloS one, 5 (6), e11285. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0011285.
[59] Wu, J., Rees, P., & Dorner, S. (2011). Variability of E. coli density and sources in an urban watershed. Journal of water and health, 9 (1), 94-106.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Folasade Tinuke Adedoyin, Maruthi Sridhar Balaji Bhaskar, Jason Alan Rosenzweig. (2021). Characterization of Bacterial Populations in Urban and Rural Houston Watershed Soil Samples Following a Flooding Event. Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology, 7(1), 22-34. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Folasade Tinuke Adedoyin; Maruthi Sridhar Balaji Bhaskar; Jason Alan Rosenzweig. Characterization of Bacterial Populations in Urban and Rural Houston Watershed Soil Samples Following a Flooding Event. Front. Environ. Microbiol. 2021, 7(1), 22-34. doi: 10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Folasade Tinuke Adedoyin, Maruthi Sridhar Balaji Bhaskar, Jason Alan Rosenzweig. Characterization of Bacterial Populations in Urban and Rural Houston Watershed Soil Samples Following a Flooding Event. Front Environ Microbiol. 2021;7(1):22-34. doi: 10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14,
      author = {Folasade Tinuke Adedoyin and Maruthi Sridhar Balaji Bhaskar and Jason Alan Rosenzweig},
      title = {Characterization of Bacterial Populations in Urban and Rural Houston Watershed Soil Samples Following a Flooding Event},
      journal = {Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology},
      volume = {7},
      number = {1},
      pages = {22-34},
      doi = {10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.fem.20210701.14},
      abstract = {Since Houston is prone to flooding events, bacterial population dynamics in Houston watershed soils pre- and post-Hurricane Harvey were evaluated. Unexpectedly, bayous closer to Houston’s urban core, including Buffalo, Halls, Mustang, and Horsepen Bayous, had significantly higher enteric bacterial loads during the winter than the summer, likely due to water flow rate changes or proximity to wastewater outflow. Following bacterial load determination, isolated colonies were identified using biochemical tests. Additionally, metagenomic sequencing of 16S rDNA allowed for identification of both culturable and unculturable organisms. The phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes and Firmicutes were found to be dominant in our metagenomic analysis and are human gut bacteria. Some opportunistic bacterial Proteobacteria pathogens identified in our metabolomic analysis were Serratia marcenscens, Pseudomonas mendocina, Pseudomonas fulva, and Pseudomonas putida. To our knowledge, this is the first study that compares Houston-area bacterial populations before and after a major flooding event. Taken together, Hurricane Harvey likely contributed to a redistribution of enteric bacteria, as there was a significant increase in the enteric population of Buffalo and Halls Bayous. Similarly, our 2018 winter data set followed the same trend, as significant increases were seen in the enteric populations of Horsepen, Mustang, and Cypress Creek watershed soils.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Characterization of Bacterial Populations in Urban and Rural Houston Watershed Soil Samples Following a Flooding Event
    AU  - Folasade Tinuke Adedoyin
    AU  - Maruthi Sridhar Balaji Bhaskar
    AU  - Jason Alan Rosenzweig
    Y1  - 2021/03/12
    PY  - 2021
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14
    DO  - 10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14
    T2  - Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology
    JF  - Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology
    JO  - Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology
    SP  - 22
    EP  - 34
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2469-8067
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.fem.20210701.14
    AB  - Since Houston is prone to flooding events, bacterial population dynamics in Houston watershed soils pre- and post-Hurricane Harvey were evaluated. Unexpectedly, bayous closer to Houston’s urban core, including Buffalo, Halls, Mustang, and Horsepen Bayous, had significantly higher enteric bacterial loads during the winter than the summer, likely due to water flow rate changes or proximity to wastewater outflow. Following bacterial load determination, isolated colonies were identified using biochemical tests. Additionally, metagenomic sequencing of 16S rDNA allowed for identification of both culturable and unculturable organisms. The phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes and Firmicutes were found to be dominant in our metagenomic analysis and are human gut bacteria. Some opportunistic bacterial Proteobacteria pathogens identified in our metabolomic analysis were Serratia marcenscens, Pseudomonas mendocina, Pseudomonas fulva, and Pseudomonas putida. To our knowledge, this is the first study that compares Houston-area bacterial populations before and after a major flooding event. Taken together, Hurricane Harvey likely contributed to a redistribution of enteric bacteria, as there was a significant increase in the enteric population of Buffalo and Halls Bayous. Similarly, our 2018 winter data set followed the same trend, as significant increases were seen in the enteric populations of Horsepen, Mustang, and Cypress Creek watershed soils.
    VL  - 7
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Department of Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science, Texas Southern University, Houston, the United States

  • Department of Earth and Environment Florida International University, Miami, the United States

  • Department of Biology Texas Southern University, Houston, the United States

  • Sections