Microbial contamination in waters has been one of the most pressing environmental health concerns in the world and the US. Understanding sources, temporal variability, and transport pathways of microbes in water is critical for the development of watershed remediation and pollution prevention plans. Furthermore, understating the occurrence of pathogens in water and its relationship to human and animal health may facilitate early detection and prevention of disease. This dissertation focuses on the study of impaired water bodies in the Great Lakes basin. In particular, maximum pollutant loading and its relationship to hydrological events is studied, microbial pollution source identification methods are investigated, and methods for analyzing water samples to identify disease signals are explored. The selected sites, located in Michigan, are sites for which Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirement for bacteria have been identified by the state and watershed management plans are being developed.
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