TR-508 Texas Bacterial Source Tracking Program Application, Expansion and Marker Evaluation (FY16–FY17)
Authors: L. Gregory, T.J. Gentry, M. Mukherjee, R. Rodriguez, E.A. Casarez, J.A. Truesdale
For more than a decade, the Texas BST Program has successfully identified sources of E. coli in dozens of watersheds across Texas. Comprehensive BST has been completed by UTSPH EP and SCSC for the following watersheds: (1) Lake Waco and Belton Lake, (2) San Antonio area, (3) Lake Granbury, (4) Buck Creek, (5) Leon and Lampasas Rivers, (6) Little Brazos River tributaries, (7) Big Cypress Creek, (8) Leona River, (9) Attoyac Bayou, (10) Arroyo Colorado, (11) Navasota River, (12) Big Elm Creek, (13) Plum Creek, and (14) the Trinity River in Tarrant Regional Water District’s service area. A Texas E. coli BST Library has been developed based on known source isolates from these and other (i.e. Upper Trinity River and Upper Oyster Creek) watersheds.
The Texas E. coli BST Library is dynamic, with new isolates being added with each successive BST project. To support maintenance, expansion, and use of the library and other BST tools, TWRI, UTSPH EP, and SCSC collaborated to: (1) further evaluate and refine the Texas E. coli BST library by assessing geographic and temporal stability, composition, average rates of correct classification, diversity of source isolates of the updated library, and working to develop/refine source-specific PCR markers, (2) support BST efforts in high priority watersheds, and (3) provide outreach regarding BST