Many water quality metrics cannot be measured in situ and require collection of a physical sample for laboratory analysis. This includes microbiological samples for detection of fa ecal coliform bacteria in marine and freshwater systems which are a critical component of food safety programs for human consumption of bivalve shellfish worldwide. Water sample collection programs are typically vessel-based which can be time and resource intensive. In Canada, the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP) aims to avoid consumption of contaminated molluscan bivalves by monitoring fecal coliform bacteria through vessel-based water sample collection. Uncrewed aerial vehicles or drones are becoming more commonly used for water sample collection
given their relatively low cost but are rarely used to support microbiological analyses. A prerequisite for the acceptance of a new collection method for a regulatory program is to determine if a novel method of sample collection affects results. To assess this potential, we designed, developed, and tested a sampling device
attached to the underside of a drone,
to collect water samples for bacteriological analysis. Drone and vessel-based samples were collected in the same location, at 20 cm depth, within a minute apart, at ten geographic locations in coastal Nova Scotia waters, to compare fecal coliform counts. Bacterial count estimates obtained from drone-collected samples were not significantly different than estimates obtained from vessel-collected samples (p < 0.5). Results from this study suggest novel water sampling techniques using drone s could supplement or replace traditional vessel-based sampling methods.