You are here:
Modeling enterococcus densities measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and membrane filtration using environmental conditions at four Great Lakes beaches
Citation:
Telech, J., K. P. BRENNER, R. A. HAUGLAND, E. A. SAMS, A. P. DUFOUR, AND T. J. WADE. Modeling enterococcus densities measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction and membrane filtration using environmental conditions at four Great Lakes beaches. WATER RESEARCH. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 43(19):4947-4955, (2009).
Impact/Purpose:
research results
Description:
Data collected by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the summer months of 2003 and 2004 at four US Great Lakes beaches were analyzed using regression analysis to identify relationships between meteorological, physical water characteristics, and beach characteristics data and the fecal indicator bacteria, Enterococcus. Water samples were analyzed for Enterococcus concentrations using membrane filtration (MF) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). This paper investigates the ability of regression models to accurately predict Enterococcus concentrations above or below a threshold value, using environmental data on a beach-by-beach basis for both methods. The ability to create statistical models for real-time water quality analysis would allow beach managers to make more accurate decisions regarding beach safety. Results indicate that models using Enterococcus concentrations measured by MF explain more variability than models using results from the qPCR method. Results also show that models for both methods did not perform well at predicting occurrences in which water quality levels exceeded a threshold.
