Storm drains as a source of fecal-derived pollution to Fortaleza city’s coastal zone

Abstract

The storm drain of a township is projected with the aim of enabling the water to flow freely since its collection on the streets till its draining pipelines. Whereas these storm drain should not represent sources of pollution, this research work analyzed the fecal contamination of the storm drain waters, the wet beach sand and the nearshore seawater by thermotolerant coliforms (CT) and Escherichia coli in the city of Fortaleza, at three sampling stations, namely: Praia dos Diários (PD1), Praia do Meireles (PM2) and Praia do Mucuripe (at Maceió creek’s mouth) – PRM3. The most contaminated storm drain water was PM2 > PRM3 > PD1. As to beach pollution on the seawater, the rank in decreasing order is taken up by PM2 = PRM3 > PD1. CT rates above those permitted by legislation were not observed in sand samples. A total of 396 strains of E. coli were isolated from samples at the three stations. In the three storm drain (PD1, PM2 and PRM3) were found loads of fecal bacteria incompatible with indices considered safe for bathing under the terms of Public Health.