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Goal: Beaches safe for
swimming.
Status: Thirteen percent of reporting beaches
were considered High Risk (closed at least 10% of the time). A
similar percentage of high risk beaches was reported for 2002
(14%), 2001 (12%) and 2000 (14%).
Trends: Difficult to ascertain due to rapidly
expanding number of beaches being reported on and changing
monitoring methods from year to year.
Issues: Recent research has shown that E.
coli can be present without fecal contamination. A more rapid enterococci test (Method
1106.1) with 24-hour incubation has been developed. Rapid
quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) method for
Enterococcus (two hour test method) can predict swimming associated
health effects in fresh water. Epidemiological surveys will be
conducted at marine beaches to determine the utility of this method
as a replacement for the cultural test methods currently approved. |
