Marquopoleau: a toolbox to differentiate the origin of fecal contamination in surface waters

Abstract

A toolbox has been developed to distinguish three major sources of contamination of bathing water in Brittany: human, cattle and pig faeces. It consists of chemical markers (caffeine and stanols) and of microbiological markers (bacteriophages and bacteria). Their persistences were compared to that of E. coli and enterococci in fresh and marine waters contaminated by faecal pollution. The application of the toolbox on a small agricultural catchment in Brittany for one year confirmed the relevance of using this tool to differentiate human and animal sources of fecal pollution in natural waters.