Microbial Source Tracking in Santa Rosa Creek

Students: Madilyn Saenz, Jordan Anagonstou, Tessa Thompson

Faculty Mentor: Jackie Guilford

Geography, Environment & Planning

College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts

Sonoma County has been experiencing an increase in unhoused individuals sleeping under bridges and along creeks. The public perception is that this population has a negative impact on the water quality of creeks, despite a lack of data supporting that assumption. Over the past two years, a group of Sonoma State students have partnered with the City of Santa Rosa Water Department to examine if there is a correlation between homeless activity and water quality in one of Santa Rosa’s largest creeks, Santa Rosa Creek. Year One and Year Two of this study found higher E. coli bacteria levels in more urban sections of the creek, which showed a positive correlation with levels of homelessness. We are now in Year Three of the project and are focusing on microbial source tracking, or genetic testing, of bacteria in the water. This testing is to determine if the higher bacterial levels in the urban parts of the creek are a result of human waste entering the creek.