Enterococci

Enterococcus is a genus of bacteria widely used as an indicator of fecal contamination. Standard biochemical tests and culturing methods are used to establish the amount of colony forming units (CFU) for an amount of sampled volume of water. Public regulations define threshold values for enterococci concentration to assets water quality, and many bathing zones are closed because they don’t meet hygienic criteria. In a review study, Peter, Bertone, and Stewart (2025) claimed that sewage discharge from human and animal wastewaters is the primary source of enterococci. They also proposed heavy rainfall and storms as key drivers of acute contamination events in coastal waters.

1 When contamiantion happened in El Confital?

Figure 1: Temporal evolution of enterococci colony forming units in El Confital.

2 How does this data overlap with our mcirobiome samples?

Figure 2: Overlay of contamination events with microbiome sample collection.

References

Peter, Philomina Onyedikachi, Edoardo Bertone, and Rodney A. Stewart. 2025. “A Systematic Literature Review of Forecasting and Predictive Models for Enterococci Intrusion in Aquatic Ecosystems.” Cleaner Water 3: 100063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clwat.2025.100063.