What happens to pathogens from cow dung when it rains?
And how can their transport routes be scientifically recorded and modeled?
The FWF-funded BACTO-TRANS project, led by the Vienna University of Technology, is investigating these questions—we are delighted to be part of this exciting research. Irrigation experiments were recently successfully completed at our Institute of Cultural Engineering and Soil Water Management: soil containing cow excrement was exposed to artificial heavy rain with varying precipitation intensities. The runoff water – both above and below ground – was systematically sampled in order to understand the transport processes of pathogens.
BAW employee David Ramler shows in the video how the experiments were carried out and how the setup works.
The project takes an integrated, quantitative approach – from laboratory experiments with artificial heavy rainfall to large-scale field trials under natural precipitation conditions.
