Understanding the Connections Between Coastal Waters and Ocean Ecosystem Services and Human Health Workshop Summary (2014) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
7 Ensuring Benefits of Recreational Waters Through Monitoring
7 Ensuring Benefits of Recreational Waters Through Monitoring
Pages 89-96
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From page 89... ...
A summary of some of the challenges of water quality monitoring is presented and is followed by a summary of the discussion that ensued. USE OF INDICATOR ORGANISMS TO ASSESS PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS AND RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH RECREATIONAL USE OF NATURAL WATERS Edward Laws, Ph.D.
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From page 90... ...
It is interesting to note that most of these ecosystem services are aquatic. Laws noted that Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii initiated a program for students as part of the Center for Ocean and Human Health at the University of Hawaii.
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From page 91... ...
For the studies, the EPA needed to find recreational waters in the United States that were contaminated with fecal pollution and where people were utilizing the waters for swimming. The EPA identified both marine water and freshwater that were assayed for a list of indicator organisms that would be associated with human feces and then correlated those data with the incidence of people getting sick from going in the waters (defined as submerging one's head under water)
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From page 92... ...
First, thee organisms that are beinng sampled aare indicattor bacteria and are no ot responsiblle for causiing the heallth probleems. Scientists rely on the fecal indicatoor bacteria beecause these aare more abundant in feces than th he actual patthogens and rrequire smalller samplees to detect their presen nce.
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From page 93... ...
has shown that there is extreme variability even between samples obtained every minute during 1-hour intervals, which raises questions about the adequacy of these water quality sampling tests. Third, Laws noted that the assumption is that the fecal indicator bacteria come from human feces and at a specific time, but in reality there are multiple potential sources in the natural environment, including other mammals, birds, fish, and runoff from beach sands, soils, and plants (Muller et al., 2001; Yamahara et al., 2007)
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From page 94... ...
For the EPA to consider utilizing this new assay, the determination must be supported by epidemiological studies that relate the assay results to human health risks. Bacteriodes are the second factor in which the EPA is focusing its efforts.
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From page 95... ...
, • need rapid results (qPCR is promising) , • address the fact that some human pathogens are unrelated to human feces, and • relate new indicators to human health risks (requires epidemiological studies, which are expensive)
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From page 96... ...
EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
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