11-2-2018
LYNDEN, Wash. — New research using DNA could improve water quality in Whatcom County.
The Whatcom Conservation District and partners announced they are embarking on a project to test whether the DNA of bacteria in our waterways can be used to accurately identify sources of pollution.
Whatcom Conservation District’s Science and Planning Coordinator Nichole Embertson says they’ll create a fecal catalog to evaluate water samples from polluted areas.
“It’s not the most glamorous project out there, but we’re collecting feces from about twenty-one different sources . . . from beavers to dogs to human septic. Each one of those we will look at all the bacteria in there and then create the bacteria’s ‘fingerprint,'” she says.
With the data they collect, they hope to provide technical assistance to local government and volunteers who are authorized to remove sources of pollution.
She expects the project to be finished next year.