In 1986, the U.S. EPA established recreational water criteria for bacteria that identified E. coli and enterococci as appropriate fecal contamination indicator organisms, and designated numerical criteria for the protection of the health of persons having full body exposures to fresh and marine waters in the United States. The EPA believed that the guidance for sampling public beaches for fecal contamination indicators could be improved by addressing differences in beach environmental conditions. GLEC conducted a pilot study designed to assess variability in indicator counts that may be linked to upstream pollution sources, hydrological characteristic, meteorological events, and physical/chemical conditions at six varying types of beaches throughout the eastern U.S. During the three month monitoring period, over 17,000 bacteriological analyses were performed at GLEC's laboratory for enterococci and E. coli using standard and modified media. Based on the results, GLEC recommended improved bacteriological sampling strategies designed for the protection of bathers in beach areas.
Back to Project Experience