{
  "abstract": "Residents of the Alabama Black Belt lack safe and reliable wastewater treatment. Health risks of inadequate treatment are well-established, community-level contamination alone cannot characterize how sanitation failures translate into exposure risks, and few studies have identified pathogens associated with exposure. We surveyed of sanitation-related pathogen releases in a small town in Hale County, Alabama, lacking sanitation infrastructure. We enrolled 24 households with on-site sanitation, 18 utilizing direct discharge, and 10 in a neighboring sewered community for comparison. We visited each household three times over 9 months. We collected yard soil and wastewater from direct-discharge effluent, on-site systems, and a sewage lagoon. We cultured samples for total coliform and Escherichia coli and analyzed via multi-parallel qPCR for 39 pathogen targets, 2 fecal markers, and 2 human source tracking markers. In soils from households served by sewerage, we detected 4 pathogens, 1 fecal marker, and 0 human source markers, 5 pathogens, 1 fecal marker, and 2 human source markers in soils from households with on-site sanitation, and 9 pathogens, 2 fecal markers, and 2 human source markers in soils from households utilizing direct discharge. These findings suggest that failing or absent wastewater treatment infrastructure contributes to environmental pathogen releases in this setting.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 12,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Olivia August Harmon"
    },
    {
      "name": "Megan E.J. Lott"
    },
    {
      "name": "Riley Johnson"
    },
    {
      "name": "Donnie Wilkie"
    },
    {
      "name": "Melu Woldu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Mark Elliott"
    },
    {
      "name": "Leigh-Anne Krometis"
    },
    {
      "name": "Musa Manga"
    },
    {
      "name": "Courtney Woods"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kevin White"
    },
    {
      "name": "Emily McGlohn"
    },
    {
      "name": "Joe Brown"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/56zx77w6z1f8b.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31223/x51j6h",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "56zx77w6z1f8b",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15178/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Alabama's Black Belt"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Engineering"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Enteric Pathogens"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Fecal Markers"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Public Health"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Water"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "and hygiene"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "sanitation"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2312|Fecal contamination and water quality"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214199047",
  "pdf_url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/object/15178/download/26336/",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-24",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/56zx77w6z1f8b.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:36Z",
      "native_id": "15178",
      "source": "eartharxiv",
      "url": "https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15178/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "bepress:Public Health",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Pathogen releases due to inadequate wastewater treatment infrastructure in small-town Alabama",
  "title_text": "Pathogen releases due to inadequate wastewater treatment infrastructure in small-town Alabama",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:36Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/56zx77w6z1f8b",
  "venue": "EarthArXiv",
  "versions": []
}