W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2011 Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Fecal Coliform Distribution in Virginia Coastal Waters Jie Huang College of William and Mary - Virginia Institute of Marine Science Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Environmental Health and Protection Commons, and the Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons Recommended Citation Huang, Jie, "Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Fecal Coliform Distribution in Virginia Coastal Waters" (2011). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539616702. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.25773/v5-t4n1-cv18 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Fecal Coliform Distribution in Virginia Coastal Waters A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the School of Marine Science The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Jie Huang December 2010 APPROVAL SHEET This Dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Ji~H~ JieH Carl H. er ner, Ph. D. Committee Chairman/Advisor !1·c . - '7) /h, j !piwV'v v' Jian Shen, Ph.D. Co-Advisor ,~~DMa i/4 Jjj;u Donna if Bilkovic, Ph.D. J L~/C~ /.Jv,v--,_ Julie Herman, Ph.D. 11~£~&~\flo ward Kator ~Ph.D. Robert~~~ E. Croonenberghs, h.D. Virginia Department of Health, Division of Shellfish Sanitation, Richmond, Virginia. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... vi ACKNOLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................. x ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. xi I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 II. OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................... 5 III. BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................ 7 III-I. Background ............................................................................................... 7 III-1-1. Fecal contamination- pathogens and their indicators ................................. 7 III-1.3. Regional difference of water quality in Virginia coastal area .................... 9 III-2. Literature Review .................................................................................... 10 III-2-1. Spatial Pattern of Fecal contamination ........................................................... 10 III-2.2. Temporal Pattern of Fecal contamination ...................................................... 11 III-2.3. Relationship between different variables and water quality ..................... 13 III-2.4. FC loading estimation .......................................................................................... 16 IV. SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL ANALYSIS ......................................................... 19 IV -1. Introduction ............................................................................................ 19 IV-2. Materials ................................................................................................. 20 IV-2.1 Site Description ...................................................................................................... 20 IV-2.2 FC Monitoring Data .............................................................................................. 21 IV-2.3 Environmental Data............................................................................................... 22 IV-3. Methods .................................................................................................. 24 IV-3.1 Tidal and seasonal effects .................................................................................... 24 IV-3.2 Re-define study sites in Virginia coastal regions .......................................... 25 IV-3.3 FC distribution among different land cover dominated watersheds ........ 28 IV-3.4 The effects of impervious land surface on fecal contamination ............... 29 IV-3.5 FC distribution in different river regions ........................................................ 31 IV-3.6 Climate effect... ....................................................................................................... 32 IV-3.7 Relationship between environmental variables and FC contamination. 33 ii IV -4 Results ..................................................................................................... 34 IV -4.1 Tidal and seasonal effects .................................................................................... 34 IV-4.2 Re-define study sites in Virginia coastal regions .......................................... 35 IV-4.3 FC distribution among different land cover dominated watersheds ........ 37 IV -4.5 FC distribution in different river regions ........................................................ 38 IV-4.6 Climate effect.. ........................................................................................................ 40 IV-4.7. Relationship between environmental variables and FC contamination 42 IV-5 Discussion ............................................................................................... 43 IV-5.1 Tidal and seasonal effects .................................................................................... 43 IV-5.2 Re-define study sites in Virginia coastal regions .......................................... 44 IV -5.3 FC distribution among different land cover dominated watersheds ........ 46 IV -5.4 The effects of impervious land surface on fecal contamination ............... 49 IV -5.5 FC distribution in different river regions ........................................................ so IV-5.6 Climate effects ........................................................................................................ 57 IV-5.7 Relationship between environmental variables and FC contamination. 64 IV -6 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 69 V. QUANTIFICATION OF FC LOADING ......................................................... 181 V -1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 73 V-2. Materials and Methods .............................................................................. 79 V-2.1 Study area .................................................................................................................. 79 V-2.2 Inverse approach ...................................................................................................... 79 V-3 Results ...................................................................................................... 88 V -3.1 Inverse calculation on categorized watersheds ............................................... 88 V-3.2 Alternate approach: Inverse calculation on land-cover-dominated watersheds ................................................................................................................. 88 V-4. Model Verification ................................................................................... 89 V-4.1 Model verification from literature data ............................................................. 89 V -4.2 Model verification from analytic data ............................................................... 90 V-4.3 Model verification from observed data ............................................................. 91 V -5 Discussion ................................................................................................ 93 V-5.2 Alternate approach: Inverse calculation on land-cover-dominated watersheds ................................................................................................................. 93 V-5.3 Model sensitivity test... ........................................................................................... 95 V-5.4 How to improve the model? ................................................................................. 97 V -6 Conclusions .................................................................................................. 98 VI. SUMMARY ........................................................................................................ 100 VII. REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 103 VITA ......................................................................................................................... 114 iii LIST OFTABLES Table IV -3.6.1: Monthly means of precipitation, temperature, and flow discharge in Virginia coastal regions. Monthly means of precipitation and temperature were calculated as average of data from 1946 to 2008 in three cities (Norfolk, Richmond, and Williamsburg). Monthly water flow discharges were calculated based on daily stream flow data