Tensile strength and concentrations of E. coli colonising three types of wet wipes in a sand mesocosm

In this mesocosm study, three types of wet wipes (plastic containing, and home and commercially compostable) colonised with E. coli were buried in beach sand and their degradation, tensile strength, and concentration of E. coli was quantified over 15 weeks.
Wipes were firstly passed through a series of treatments to simulate their journey from the bathroom to the beach. Water characteristics (pH, salinity) of these water types were measured.