The study is being funded by a two-year grant in the amount of $117,612 that the university received in March from the Georgia Sea Grant College Program, said Dr. Dave Bachoon, assistant professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences. Bachoon is conducting the study with three GC&SU biology majors: Robert Pepper, a graduate student from Macon, Ga.; Lee Owen, a graduate student from Forsyth, Ga.; and Brendt Poon Kwong, a freshman from Trinidad.

Bachoon said the funding provides supplies for the project and helps support the three students involved in the research. The research is being done in conjunction with the University of Georgia Marine Extension Service.

Estuaries are fragile ecosystems that provide a habitat and nursery areas for many important commercial and non-commercial species of marine life, Bachoon said. Shellfish aquaculture and the commercial harvest of wild clams and oysters are threatened by fecal contamination from faulty septic tanks along the Georgia coast.
Bachoon pointed out that there are seven major clam growers and a couple of minor growers in McIntosh County, where the research is being conducted.

Currently, high E. coli counts in the water column threatens to close one of the shellfish farms at Four Mile Island. In Liberty County, north of McIntosh, fecal pollution has forced the closure of shellfish harvesting. The Georgia Sea Grant Advisory Committee has listed the impact of septic tanks on the health of marsh and estuaries as a top priority, Bachoon said.

Bachoon said that most researchers agree that dysfunctional septic tanks and those located too near a water body represent a likely source of fecal contamination for coastal marine environments. Though the UGA Marine Extension Service has collected detailed information on the location of septic tanks in McIntosh County and placed it into a database, vital information required to establish the link between septic tanks and fecal contamination of coastal estuaries is lacking, he said.

The result of the study should be a practical and effective fecal indicator that will allow coastal regulators, planners, and public health officials to assess bacterial safety and sources in the water bodies adjacent to coastal septic tanks.

For more information, contact Dr. Dave Bachoon, (478) 445-0812.