Both human and swine waste contaminated surface waters with fecal bacteria in the wake of 2018’s Hurricane Florence, according to a new study.

“We found that surface waters in eastern North Carolina were more likely to face dual contamination than to be contaminated by either human waste or swine waste by themselves,” says corresponding author Angela Harris, an assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at North Carolina State University.

“This means people are dealing with multiple hazards,” Harris says. “It also means there are two sources of fecal contamination that need to be addressed. It’s not just the swine industry, and it’s not just wastewater treatment plants or septic systems.”

For the study, researchers collected surface water samples at 40 sites across eastern North Carolina. They collected samples one week after Hurricane Florence made landfall in September 2018, and again one month after landfall. These samples are referred to as Phase 1 and Phase 2, respectively.

The researchers tested the water samples for a variety of bacteria. Specifically, the samples were tested for: E. coli—an indicator species used to identify fecal contamination and the likelihood that there are pathogens present; pathogens such as Arcobacter butzleri and various Listeria species; and bacterial species associated specifically with either swine or humans, so that researchers could trace contamination back to its source.

“About 30% of the surface water sites we tested had levels of bacteria that would have made those waters unsafe for swimming,” Harris says.

“This is particularly important given concerns around antibiotic-resistant pathogens and the likelihood that we’ll be seeing more extreme wet weather events in the future.”

Read the full article about the fecal contamination of flood waters by Matt Shipman at Futurity.