Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** existing methods for measuring…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** existing methods for measuring agricultural water quality that has been impacted by fecal bacteria from livestock, wildlife, and humans is not easily performed on the farm and requires laboratory resources. With an increased frequency of extreme weather events inundating agricultural lands and potentially impacting private groundwater systems and surface waters, their remains a need for water monitoring to inform pollution mitigation and conservation practices while also safeguarding food systems and public health. Additionally, the USDA, FDA, and CDC have joined efforts as part of the national antimicrobial resistance monitoring system to better understand how antibiotic resistant bacteria move in the environment between livestock, humans, and wildlife. Water and fecal indicator bacteria are both important for assessing this movement of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Accordingly, farmers, conservationists, and even citizen scientists who desire to contribute to monitoring and improving our nation's waters may have the opportunity to take action if affordable, practical, field portable kits become available that provide rapid and scientifically defensible results. The research proposed seeks to enhance and validate an affordable handheld quantitative fluorometer and colorimeter for enumeratinge. Coliand antibiotic-resistante. Coli from agricultural waters . The results obtained will be compared to the standard methods, which are slower, more expensive and require laboratory resources. For comparing methods, over 96 water samples will be obtained from eight different locations, with many locations having some degree of agricultural impact, including a stream adjacent to a university farm. Statistical approaches will be used to compare the standard approach versus the more rapid novel approaches proposed. These research efforts presumably would benefit conservation-minded agricultural operations, conservation districts, watershed organizations, educators, and citizen scientists by leading to a kit that enables their participation in water quality monitoring and antibiotic resistance surveillance efforts. Added benefits may include improved public health protections of leafy vegetables and more rapid and affordable testing of irrigation waters by agricultural producers.