Citation:

Dufour, A P. THE UNITED STATES EPA CONCEPT FOR DERIVING WATER QUALITY GUIDELINES FOR RECREATIONAL WATERS. Presented at Workshop: "Monitoring the Quaity of Recreational Waters: Do we need a change of paragdigms?", Tuebingen, Germany, March 28-31, 2004.

Impact/Purpose:

The objectives of this research are: (1) to evaluate rapid state-of-the-art measuement methods of pathogens that may indicate the presence of fecal pollution in recreational waters (beaches); (2) to obtain, jointly with a sister laboratory (NHEERL), a new set of water quality data and related health effects data at a variety of beaches across the U.S., in both marine and non-marine waters; (3) to analyze the research data set to evaluate the utility of the tested measurement methods, the new EMPACT monitoring protocol, and the health effects data / questionnaire, in order to establish a relationship between measured pathogens and observed health effects; and (4) to communicate the results to the Office of Water in support of their efforts to develop new state and/or federal guidelines and limits for water quality indicators of fecal contamination, so that beach managers and public health officials can alert the public about the potential health hazards before exposure to unsafe water can occur.

Description:

The guidelines developed by the US EPA for controlling the quality of recreational waters are based on protecting the health of swimmers and other recreationists who may be exposed to waters contaminated by human and animal excreta. Risks to swimmers were determined through a series of epidemiological studies at marine and freshwater beaches where the relationships between water quality and symptomatic swimming-associated illness were defined. The data, which showed that there was an association between gastrointestinal illness and swimming, and also that as the density of fecal indicator microbes in the water increased, so did the frequency of swimming-associated illness, were used to set a tolerable limit to the level of illness in swimmers. The limit was related to the geometric mean of indicator bacteria in at least five water samples per month and also a single sample value. These water quality limiting values are recommended to the states in the US, who have the authority to set guideline values into state standards.

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