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Vucinic, L. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9370-3308, O'Connell, D., Dubber, D., Coxon, C. and Gill, L.
(2023)
Multiple fluorescence approaches to identify rapid changes in microbial indicators at karst springs.
Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 254.
pp. 1-11.
ISSN 0169-7722
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Abstract
Karst springs are globally important for drinking water supply but are often also exceptionally vulnerable to contamination. Such springs usually exhibit strong variation in microbial water quality in sharp response to rainfall events, thus, posing a health hazard to consumers of water supplied from these sources. The rapid detection of such changes is extremely important as well as being able to establish a link to the sources of such pollution, so that appropriate measures can be taken both in terms of immediate protection of human health and the management of karst aquifers. In this study, a fluorescence-based multi parameter approach was trialed in order to evaluate which methods can be used to monitor rainfall-induced rapid changes in microbial water quality at karst springs, as well as determine whether such changes can be linked to sources of human effluent contamination. The results from three monitoring periods at two karst springs revealed marked responses to rainfall events for all of the microbial parameters measured. Total cell count (TCC) measurements using flow cytometry (FCM) showed very strong positive correlations with the more conventionally monitored faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) and total coliforms (TC), indicating that such a fluorescence-based and cultivation- independent technique can be very useful to indicate rapid changes in microbial water quality at karst springs. Furthermore, very strong positive correlations were also found between tryptophan-like fluorescence (TLF) measurements and concentrations of all monitored microbial parameters, again demonstrating that such a fluorescence-based approach can also be useful for detecting rapid changes in concentrations of traditional faecal indicators. Interestingly, it was found that fluorescent whitening compounds (FWCs) signals do not necessarily follow temporal variations of microbial indicators. However, the frequency of detection of positive FWCs signals may still reveal useful information about the overall magnitude of human wastewater effluent impacts on karst aquifer systems.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Additional Information: | Data availability Most of the data for this research are included in this paper. The full data sets can be found at this Mendeley Data link: doi: 10.17632/kvp8vdk4kt.1 Acknowledgements This research was conducted within the Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences (iCRAG) supported in part by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant Number 13/RC/2092 and is co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund and by iCRAG industry partners. The authors would like to thank the Geological Survey of Ireland for providing additional funding for this research through the Griffiths Research Award 2017 (Contract Number 2017-sc- 007). In addition, local landowners are thanked for providing field-site access. Special acknowledgement is also given to Barry Moran from the School of Biochemistry and Immunology and Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland) for his assistance in the Flow Cytometry Facility. Many thanks to Manuel Ruether from the Department of Chemistry (University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), for making a LS55 Fluorescence Spectrometer available to us. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | karst springs,groundwater contamination,flow cytometry,fluorescent whitening compounds,tryptophan-like fluorescence,sdg 3 - good health and well-being,sdg 6 - clean water and sanitation ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 20 Aug 2026 09:21 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Aug 2026 23:02 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/104255 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jconhyd.2022.104129 |
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