Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-13-2022

Publication Title

Science of the Total Environment

Volume

840

First page number:

1

Last page number:

11

Abstract

Unsheltered homelessness is rapidly becoming a critical issue in many cities worldwide. The worsening situation not only highlights the socioeconomic plight, but it also raises awareness of ancillary issues such as the potential implications for urban water quality. The objective of this study was to simultaneously leverage diverse source tracking tools to develop a chemical and microbial fingerprint describing the relative contribution of direct human inputs into Las Vegas' tributary washes. By evaluating a wide range of urban water matrices using general water quality parameters, fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), human-associated microbial markers [e.g., HF183, crAssphage, and pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV)], 16S rRNA gene sequencing data, and concentrations of 52 anthropogenic trace organic compounds (TOrCs), this study was able to differentiate principal sources of these constituents, including contributions from unsheltered homelessness. For example, HF183 (31% vs. 0%), crAssphage (61% vs. 5%), and PMMoV (72% vs. 55%) were more frequently detected in tributary washes with higher homeless census counts vs. ‘control’ tributary washes. Illicit drugs or their metabolites (e.g., heroin, acetylmorphine, amphetamine, and cocaine) and select TOrCs (e.g., acetaminophen, caffeine, ibuprofen, and naproxen) were also detected more frequently and at higher concentrations in the more anthropogenically-impacted washes.These data can be used to raise awareness of the shared interests between the broader community and those who are experiencing homelessness, notably the importance of protecting environmental health and water quality. Ultimately, this may lead to more rapid adoption of proven strategies for achieving functional zero homelessness, or at least additional resources for unsheltered individuals.

Keywords

Microbial source tracking (MST); trace organic compounds (TOrCs); illicit drugs; fecal indicator bacteria (FIB); tributary wash; indicator virus

Disciplines

Civil and Environmental Engineering | Civil Engineering | Environmental Engineering

File Format

PDF

File Size

3400 KB

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Download

UNLV article access

Search your library

Share

COinS