Whatcom Conservation District and project partners Exact Scientific and Practical Informatics embarked on a year-long project to test whether the DNA of bacteria in our waterways can be used to accurately identify sources of fecal pollution. Project partners built a catalog of 21 different fecal bacterial DNA “fingerprints” representing potential fecal sources (i.e., humans, deer, dogs, geese, horses, etc.) in Whatcom County.  The catalog was tested against water samples from areas with historically elevated bacteria levels with the intention of identifying which fecal sources were contributing bacteria to water. Our goal was to improve the future of water quality sampling and characterization in order to better identify and provide technical assistance to fix sources of fecal pollution in Whatcom County. Work in this area is ongoing.

​Project duration: 2018-2019