QUANTIFYING EMERGING CONTAMINANTS IN PARKERSON MILL CREEK, ALABAMA

The headwaters of Parkerson Mill Creek are on the campus of Auburn University. This creek been identified as an impaired waterbody according to the Alabama Department of Environment Management for exceeding the EPA standard of E. coli (61-151 cfu/100 mL as a single sample reading). The purpose of our study was to quantify emerging contaminants within the creek and to identify any correlations between the amount of E. coli and concentration of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at several chosen sites within Parkerson Mill Creek. Our data was collected through a five-step method. VOCs were analyzed using GC/MS analysis and E. coli were enumerated using Coliscan Easy Gel. Statistical tests were performed to determine the significance of our results. Although we screened for 82 different VOCs, we found that only chloroform was present at concentrations above the detection limit. Chloroform was found at two of our sites during our first sampling campaign. There were other compounds detected, such as nonanal and decanal, but were not on our calibration curve so they could not be quantified. Wilcoxon tests were utilized to determine the statistical significance of our findings. The measured concentration of E. coli ranged from 50 to 18,700 cfu/100 mL with 7 of 8 sampling events exceeding the EPA limit. According to our tests, the number of E. coli colonies between sampling round one and two were not significantly different. After our research study it can be concluded there is a concurrence, although not statistically significant, between the amount of E. coli and concentration of VOCs at two sites along Parkerson Mill Creek.