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Research to Support and Implement Microbial Water Quality Criteria
Citation:
Oshima, K. Research to Support and Implement Microbial Water Quality Criteria. EPA ORD SSWR Webinar, Cincinnati, OH, February 26, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
Exposure to enteric pathogens in recreational waters continues to be a important public health issue in the United States. This presentation summarizes the main areas of research that ORD delivered over the last 4-5 years. Main research findings are in the area of the development of molecular tools, coliphage detection methods, and microbial fate and transport. Research that has supported the development of Recreational Water Quality Criteria. Research findings are of interest to the Office of Water, SRegions and State and local agencies
Description:
An important goal of the Clean Water Act is to protect and restore waters for recreational use. In response, EPA routinely publishes and/or updates recommended Ambient Water Quality Criteria (AWQC). Research conducted by EPA Office of Research and development supports this effort by strengthening the scientific basis of existing methods and developing new procedures, tools, and health effects assessments. This webinar will provide an overview of EPA's fresh and marine waters research related to 1) human health risks associated with fecal indicator and pathogen measurements, 2) fecal indicator and pathogen method development and characterization to support AWQC applications through laboratory and field testing/case studies, and 3) predictive modeling for fecal indicators and pathogens to support AWQC development through laboratory and field studies. EPA's research activities related to the development and implementation of quantitative human-associated microbial source tracking technologies, including the public release of draft EPA Methods 1696/1697 and the development of virus-based crAssphage methods, will also be discussed.