EAGER: Understand the concentration dynamics of fecal-specific chemical and bacterial markers in a tropical residential sewershed

0964260美国老化的卫生下水道系统正在削弱市政当局保护公众健康的能力。要解决这个问题，需要在未来几年进行大量的下水道修复工作。有效地执行这些工作需要彻底评估下水道恶化状况，以便通过将资源用于下水道系统最脆弱的部分来实现主动修复。然而，目前的下水道检测技术并不适合这样的任务。提出的探索性研究将测试使用污水标记在不同下水道段之间快速可靠地排列下水道恶化严重程度的新概念。假设是，在干燥天气条件下，基于某些粪便特定标记物的定量PCR的污染图显示出稳定和标志性的日流入模式，而在潮湿天气条件下，它们的波动在数量上与下水道恶化的严重程度有关。该项目的目的是获得初步的数据来验证这一假设。如果这一假设得到证实，将有可能改变处理下水道系统修复的方式。研究生和本科生都将参与该项目。此外，通过大学的夏威夷本土科学与工程指导计划，将加强与代表性不足的学生社区的工作关系。

0964260YanAging sanitary sewer systems in the U.S. are undermining municipalities ability to safeguard public health. To fix the problem will require enormous sewer rehabilitation efforts in coming years. Efficient implementation of such efforts requires a thorough assessment of sewer deterioration status, so that proactive rehabilitation can be achieved by directing resources toward the most vulnerable sections of sewer systems. Current sewer inspection technologies, however, are not suitable for such a task. The proposed exploratory research will test the novel concept of using sewage markers to rapidly and reliably rank sewer deterioration severities among different sewer sections. The hypothesis is that pollutographs based on quantitative PCR of certain fecal specific markers exhibit stable and signature diurnal influx patterns under dry weather conditions, and that their fluctuations under wet-weather conditions are quantitatively related to sewer deterioration severities. The objective of this project is to obtain preliminary data testing this hypothesis. If this hypothesis is proven out, there will be potential to transform the handling of the rehabilitation of sewer systems. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in the project. Additionally, a working relationship will be enhanced with underrepresented student communities via the university's native Hawaiian Science and Engineering Mentoring program.