Corrigendum to “Comparative decay of sewage-associated marker genes in beach water and sediment in a subtropical region” (Water Research (2019) 149 (511–521), (S0043135418309059), (10.1016/j.watres.2018.10.088))

The authors regret to inform the readers that T₉₀ values presented in the article were not correct. TheT₉₀ values initially reported were calculated using an incorrect equation in section 2.5 (data analysis). However, the correct equation is T₉₀ = 1/k. Therefore, T₉₀ values presented in Tables 2 and 3, and throughout the text in results and discussion sections are incorrect. T₉₀ values stated in the article are approximately 2.3 times higher than the correct values. The correct values are provided in the text and Tables 2 and 3 (see below). These Incorrect T₉₀ values do not affect the conclusions made in the article. In the sentence “statistical findings were considered significant at an α level of 0.5.”, the value of α level is 0.05. 3.4 Decay rates of qPCR FIB and sewage-associated markers. In the result section paragraph 3, section 3.4 starting with “According to the first order decay model” has been changed to: According to the first order decay model, ENT in sediment samples from BI (k = 0.03; T₉₀ = 37.8 days) and LS (k = 0.08; T₉₀ = 12.9 days) mesocosms exhibited slow decay rates (Table 2). The HF183 marker gene in water and sediment samples from all three mesocosms followed a first order decay. The decay of HF183 was faster (k = 0.97 to 1.01; T₉₀ = 1.00–1.03 days) in water samples compared to sediment (k = 0.49–0.09; T₉₀ = 2.04–11.3 days). The decay of HF183 in water from all mesocosms was significantly different from sediment (p < 0.05) according to the Fisher's LSD test (Fig. 2). The decay rates of HAdV in water samples from all three microcosms ranged from 0.24 to 0.58 (T₉₀ = 4.09 to 1.72 days). The decay rate of HAdV in sediment was significantly slower (p < 0.05) than in water from the NB mesocosm. The decay rates of HPyV in water were similar to those of HAdV, ranging from 0.26 to 0.42 (T₉₀ = 3.88 to 2.40 days). The decay of HPyV was significantly (p < 0.05) slower in NB sediment samples than in water. Although the HPyV decay was slightly faster in LS sediment compared to water, the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The decay rates of crAssphage in water samples from both BI and LS mesocosms were similar to HAdV and HPyV, ranging from 0.30 to 0.33 (T₉₀ = 3.36 to 3.00 days). However, the crAssphage decay rate in sediment was much slower than that seen in water, ranging from 0.05 to 0.03 (T₉₀ = 19.6–39.3 days). The decay of HF183 in water from both BI and LS mesocosms was significantly different (p < 0.05) from sediment. According to the biphasic decay model, EC exhibited a faster decay rate in water during the first phase (k₁ = 0.33 to 0.67; T₉₀ = 3.03 to 1.50 days) in all three mesocosms compared to sediment (k₁ = 0.23 to 0.29; T₉₀ = 4.28 to 3.50 days) (Table 3). The differences were significant (p < 0.05) for the BI and LS mesocosms, but not for the NB mesocosm (p > 0.05). The first phase of the biphasic decay of ENT (k₁ = 0.72 to 1.19; T₉₀ = 1.38 to 0.84 days) and crAssphage (k₁ = 0.38; T₉₀ = 2.63 days) in water were similar to first order decay of HF183 (k = 0.97 to 1.01; T₉₀ = 1.03 to 1.00 days), HAdV (k = 0.24 to 0.58; T₉₀ = 4.09 to 1.72 days) and HPyV (k = 0.26 to 0.42; T₉₀ = 3.88 to 2.40 days), respectively.