Microbial Water Quality and Influences of Fecal Accumulation from a Dog Exercise Area - Essay Example

Microbial Water Quality and Influences of Fecal Accumulation from a Dog Exercise Area" Article Critique Lynell and Walker’s “Microbial Water Quality and Influences of Fecal Accumulation from a dog Exercise Area” seeks to show how diseases among human beings can be caused by the animal feces that they come across through different means. Majorly, the contamination comes through water infected by the animal feces. The animal feces are disposed closed to Lake Intake points and hence the waste is carried into the water body (Garfield and Walker, 2008).

The lakes then further acts as a daily source of water for domestic use in most developed countries. In conducting the study, sampling of the water was done at various points of the lake over a given period of time. The results obtained from the samples were keenly analyzed and evaluated to give the relevant result. Published documents were also reviewed to compare the result found with the current experiment results (Garfield and Walker, 2008).The results found were obtained through different tools and techniques, these included sampling of the water and also an analysis of fecal accumulation and burden at different spots along the rivers and lakes.

With the fecal accumulation strategy, different masses of dry feces were taken and weighed and then compared with the quantity of feces available per plot. The water sampling technique entailed sampling of the water at different points of the river and then filtering the water on specific filters to give the E.coli bacteria levels before an analysis is done on the amount of waste found in the water (Garfield and Walker, 2008). More feces were deposited at the upstream than downstream.Simple linear regression was used for a comparison and analysis of data obtained from the water sampling technique.

This was to determine the relationship between the sample of water collected and the fecal amount found. For the data obtained on the fecal E.coli burden, a correlation analysis was done to give the best result on the relationship between the two (Garfield and Walker, 2008). The result from water sampling showed a variety in correlation between the amount of fecal discharge in the upstream and downstream but did not show any correlation with the seasons (Garfield and Walker, 2008). The regression analysis however showed there was a significate rate of fecal discharge during the summer than in all other existing seasons.

Over time it was realized that the amount of feces discharge increased at a constant rate within and around the water sources. The feces of canine animals such as dogs were also found to contain a relatively high quantity of water than that of other animals. This was largely linked to the high variability in the nature of their foods (Garfield and Walker, 2008). It was expected that the amount of feces waste would be higher on the downstream than on the upstream. This was not true as the result showed the amount of harmful was higher on the upstream than on the downstream, this was in particular due to the sedimentation occurring in the river (Garfield and Walker, 2008).

The highest amount of solid waste disposed on public places came from canines such as dogs. Dogs were determined to dispose of their feces mostly on footpaths and public places, this was said to be caused by their behavior of marking their paths (Garfield and Walker, 2008). Most dog feces did not contain the E.coli bacteria due to several factors, majorly because the feces did not have the conducive environment for the survival of the bacteria (Garfield and Walker, 2008). The bacteria levels were relatively low in fresh feces than in dry feces.

It may be because the environmental factors such as temperature served to ensure the amount of bacteria greatly reduced in the feces. The author was thus able to test and review his hypothesis and therefore determine that indeed the waterborne diseases were caused by the discharge of animal waste into the water streams over time. In the end it was understood that not only the waste disposed along the river banks and lake shores were harmful but even the feces left on dry land could lead to diseases (Garfield and Walker, 2008).

The works significance established the flow of harmful waterborne bacteria from the dogs to the soil into the water and finally into the human body system. The dog owners and veterinarians are therefore to be educated on how to dispose of the waste of the animals and hence reduce the rate of infection (Garfield and Walker, 2008). The observation made therefore was in conformity with the hypothesis expected and also in conformity with other others findings since there was relative amount of waterborne diseases caused by the discharge of animal feces in the water bodies.

Reference Garfield, L. and Walker, M. (2008). Microbial Water Quality and Influences of Fecal Accumulation from a dog Exercise Area. Journal of Environment health, p 24-29.