Sewage to blame for beach contamination
A new research collaboration has used sophisticated DNA marker approaches to determine the primary cause of poor water quality at beaches. And guess what? It’s us.
Researchers found several stormwater drains at Rose Bay were contaminated by sewage, even in dry weather. Photo by Nathan Williams
Is it bird poo? Is it dog poo? Is it human poo?
These are important questions when trying to work out the causes of water contamination at popular Sydney swimming spots. Sadly, in the case of the beaches of Rose Bay and Terrigal, it is human poo, in the form of sewage contamination, which has the biggest impact on water quality.
A new research collaboration involving the Ocean Microbiology Group, in the Climate Change Cluster (C3) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), along with the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), Beachwatch and Central Coast Council, has identified sewage as the primary cause of poor water quality.
Ocean Microbiology Group leader Professor Justin Seymour, his PhD student Nathan Williams and post-doctoral research associate Dr Nahshon Siboni used sophisticated DNA marker approaches to analyse samples of stormwater and seawater for human, bird and dog faeces.
Continue reading at the UTS Newsroom: Sewage to blame for beach contamination
