Automated time-series measurement of microbial concentrations in groundwater-derived water supplies

We deployed a sampler to characterize water quality from a household well tapping a shallow fractured dolomite aquifer in northeast Wisconsin. The sampler was deployed from January to May 2017, and monitored temperature, nitrate, chloride, specific conductance, and fluorescent dissolved organic matter on a minute time step; water was directed to sequential microbial filters during three recharge periods that ranged from 5 to 20 days. Results from the automated sampler demonstrate the dynamic nature of the household water quality, especially with regard to microbial targets, which were shown to vary 1 to 2 orders of magnitude during a single sampling event. We believe assessments of pathogen occurrence and concentration, and related assessments of drinking well vulnerability, would be improved by the time-integrated characterization provided by this sampler. This data release provides the data collected during this study and use for analyses described by Owens et al., 2018.