CHARACTERIZING HUMAN HEALTH RISKS FROM FECAL COLIFORM EXPOSURE IN URBAN WATERWAYS IN INDIANAPOLIS DUE TO STORMWATER RUNOFF

Combined Sewage Overflow (CSO) Systems collect domestic sewage, industrial waste, and rainwater into a combined system. Indianapolis, like many cities in the US, has an outdated and undersized CSO system that can result in raw sewage release into waterways after as little as ¼” of rainfall. A major stormwater infrastructure upgrade is currently underway to mitigate this issue, but in the meantime, local waterways suffer the burden of frequent pathogenic bacterial input from sewage. We hypothesize that a significant proportion of the fecal coliform present in urban waterways in Indianapolis is human-related E. Coli along with associated fecal pathogens that persist in waterways well after CSO outflow events. We will use 16s rRNA sequencing technology to characterize and quantify the microbial community present at the taxa and species levels. The information collected may help to identify the different animal sources and potential toxicity of these pathogen and human health risks associated with this urban waterway affected by CSO input. Current data shows that there is an increase in the fecal coliform levels present in the Pleasant Run Waterway after CSO overflow events. This data can be used to inform waterway recovery trajectories in the future, an outcome that will benefit the hundreds of other cities around the US undergoing similar conversions.