72hours later...

After our kit arrived a week late, (which we cannot really complain, seeing as it cost $80 we did not pay for), we were really excited to actually get our hands dirty and get some results on the coliform levels in pedder bay, off Pearson College docks.

Therefore, friday afternoon, Brandi and I went down to the docks, got a 4ml sample of water and poured it into the bottle with the gel-like content and shook as it told us to. Jonathan kindly helped us to set the incubator to the right temperature, 35degrees Celsius. After waiting an hour or so for the incubator to reach the right temperatures, we finally put in our gel-full petri-dish that we were to leave for the recommended 36-48 hours.

And wait we did, with the occasional peep to ensure all was going well. We did realize that no colour coded coliform spots were appearing on the gel..but we assumed that all was going well.

72 hours later..the gel still looks the same as it did when we put it in.

Disappointing?? YES

Did we learn a lot? MORE THAN WE EXPECTED

Our experiment might have failed ( maybe due to our own error, or the malfunction of the kit itself - we are sure we followed every instruction to detail) but we gained knowledge..a lot of it.

Starting from what coliform is - especially for those of us who had never had of it before, or never really understood what the fuss was about - to actually almost being able to measure the levels of coliform in our immediate environments!

So 72 hours later...the gel-full petri dish still sits in the incubator - maybe we are still hoping that something will happen - the knowledge about coliform that we have acquired is tremendous, and the friendships we have strengthened will last now even longer!

Charity

The Kit Arrived...

So the kit arrived last Friday, which was very exciting ! Some Kit information:
Name : Coliscan Easygel Specification Data
Selective for: E.Coli and other coliforms
Description: Coliscan is a clear mediu containing two chromogenic substrates. One is cleaved by the nzyme galactosidase to produce an insoluble pink compound. This causes coliform colonies to be pink/red. The second is cleaved by the enzyme glucuronidase to produce an insoluble teal compound. Using the two compounds allows easy visual distinction between general coliforms(pink/red colonies) and e.coli ( pink + teal = blue/purple colonies)
Composition: contains nutrients, inhibitors and chromogenic substrate mix. pH 7.3 + 0.2
Procedure: use standard methodology for product being tested. Incubation time and temperature 24-48hours at 35c Colors will intensidy and colony size will be larger at 36-48hours.
Interpretation: E.coli colonies will have a dark blue/ purple overall colony color. Other coliforms are pink to red in color. Proteus and Sakmonella will generallly grow as white colonies. Gram positive organisms are generally inhibited. An occasional teal colony is indicative of a non-coloiform which has the ability to produce glucuronidase but not galactosidase. A fwe strains of Salmonella and Shigella have this capability.


-Brandi

Working hard researching and discussing data:

~ Denyse

Personal Reflection

Doing this project has been a lovely experience. My three teammates all collaborated and brought new ideas to the table, we clarified and defined our experiment by working off each others' ideas. We came up with our basic idea the very first day and were interested in measuring bacteria in Pedder Bay. After consulting with Jonathan (who was very helpful) we narrowed it down to coliform and other fecal and potentially harmful bacteria like e.coli. The tricky part was, although we ordered our equipment on time (roughly 2 weeks before April 17) it did not arrive on time. We were unable to conduct our experiment until today, Friday April 24. The even more unfortunate part is that I had planned to be off campus this whole weekend and the group had to do the experiment without me. However, I do feel indebted and will try to do some comparative data with our research within the next few days.

On the day of the group four project, we spent several hours searching for different coliform levels at beaches around the world. We were successful in finding information in California, Newfoundland, and Shuswap Lake (although the graphs were not upload-able for this blog). The exact numbers proved to be a challenge to find. It will be interesting to see how Pedder Bay compares with other places in bacterial safety. Bay jumping is a loved water activity at Pearson and it would be interesting to make the student body aware of any possible dangers.

So what went well? Well our teamwork did for sure. We met several times and worked together in a very productive way. We all brought different skills to the table and appreciated each other. Our concept also was very interesting and applicable.

What didn't go well? Logistics. The mail. If only we could have done the experiment in time for the deadline.

What would we do differently? Maybe extend the experiment over different time periods to see the difference in bacteria, and do it at different times of the day. Also, obviously hope for better luck in the mail.

-Emmy

Newfoundland Coliform Findings ..

Water Quality Results for Popular open water areas in Newfoundland from January 2010

-Brandi

Coliform Levels in Californian Beaches

Water Quality Results for sites sampled the week of April 12, 2010.

Source: http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/eh/environmental_water_quality/current_water_quality_data/index.htm

- Denyse

Information Gathering ...

Consider this: A single gram of dog feces contains 23 million fecal coliform bacteria. One gram. Then consider the millions of gallons of raw sewage that are vented into the ocean when older public water systems are overwhelmed by heavy rainfall. In some countries, sewage is vented directly into the sea without any effort to filter it at all.
Bacterial contamination in our oceans has far greater consequences than a few closed beaches. Fecal coliform and other bacteria in high concentrations can kill off marine mammals like whales, otters, and dolphins from organ failure and the sheer toxicity of the water.

Unless a beach is closed due to high levels of bacteria, very few of us give much thought to the pollutants that plague our oceans. But as human populations rise worldwide and the populations of marine species collapse from over fishing and compromised food chains, it is clear that we are not going to be able to ignore these problems for much longer.

http://www.waterfiltering.com/water-sources/ocean-water-contaminants.html

What exactly are total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and enterococcus?
Total coliforms consist of a large group of bacteria that may inhabit the intestial tracts of both humans and animals. They may also be found in water as well as occurring naturally on leaves and in the soil.
Fecal coliforms are a subgroup of total coliform bacteria. Their presence is highly correlated with fecal contamination from warm-blooded animals.
Enterococcus, sometimes referred to as fecal streptococcus, is also an intestinal bacterium used to indicate fecal contamination from mammals and birds.

California state regulations mandate that total coliform, fecal coliform, and enterococcus are to be used as indicator bacteria for monitoring marine recreational water quality:

When is a beach placed on WARNING status?
If a water sample fails to meet one or more of the health standards, a WARNING status for the beach will be issued. Yellow WARNING signs stating "Warning! Ocean Water Contact May Cause Illness! Bacteria Levels Exceed Health Standards." will be posted at the beach. Health standards are exceeded when:
Total coliform exceeds: 10,000 MPN (Most Probable Number)
Fecal coliform exceeds: 400 MPN
Enterococcus exceeds: 104 MPN
Fecal coliform:total coliform ratio exceeds 0.1, and the total coliform count exceeds 1,000 MPN
*Most Probable Number = Bacterial count per 100 ml of waterWhen a beach is listed under WARNING status, swimmers should stay a minimum of 50 yards away from creek mouths and storm drains.
http://www.sbcphd.org/ehs/OceanFAQ.htm

- Brandi