Pathogen releases due to inadequate wastewater treatment infrastructure in small-town Alabama
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{harmon2026pathogen,
title = {{Pathogen releases due to inadequate wastewater treatment infrastructure in small-town Alabama}},
author = {Olivia August Harmon and Megan E.J. Lott and Riley Johnson and Donnie Wilkie and Melu Woldu and Mark Elliott and Leigh-Anne Krometis and Musa Manga and Courtney Woods and Kevin White and Emily McGlohn and Joe Brown},
howpublished = {EarthArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31223/x51j6h},
url = {https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15178/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Pathogen releases due to inadequate wastewater treatment infrastructure in small-town Alabama
AU - Olivia August Harmon
AU - Megan E.J. Lott
AU - Riley Johnson
AU - Donnie Wilkie
AU - Melu Woldu
AU - Mark Elliott
AU - Leigh-Anne Krometis
AU - Musa Manga
AU - Courtney Woods
AU - Kevin White
AU - Emily McGlohn
AU - Joe Brown
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
PB - EarthArXiv
DO - 10.31223/x51j6h
UR - https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/15178/
AB - 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.
ER -