Enterococci Concentrations in Tropical Coastal Beaches in Malaysia Correlate Better With Pathogen Levels and Other Water Quality Indicators than Faecal Coliforms

Abstract

There is currently no bacteriological beach quality monitoring (BQM) program in place in Malaysia. To initiate cost-effective, sustainable bacteriological BQM schemes for the ultimate goal of protecting public health, policy decision makers need to be provided robust, indigenous empirical findings that validate appropriate water quality parameters for inclusion in such monitoring programs. This is the first study that assesses the validity of enterococci as an ideal indicator for bacteriological BQM in Malaysia using a multivariate approach. Beach water and sand samples from seven beach locations were analyzed for a total of twenty-one microbial and non-microbial water quality parameters. A multivariate approach incorporating cluster analyses (CA), principal component analyses (PCA), and factor analysis (FA) was also adopted. Apart from the weak correlations of Staphylococcus aureus with concentrations of Vibro species (r = 0.302, p = 0.037) and total coliforms (r = 0.392, p = 0.006) in seawater, no correlation existed between S.aureus concentration and other parameters. Faecal coliforms failed to correlate with any of the tested parameters. Enterococci also correlated with more quality parameters than faecal coliforms or any other indicator. PCA/FA clearly delineated enterococci and faecal coliforms as parameters that weighed strongly for BQM while Staphylococcus aureus, faecal coliforms and enterococci weighed strongly for beach sand quality monitoring. On the whole, higher correlations of enterococci level with other parameters than was observed for faecal coliforms suggest that the former be considered a preferred parameter of choice for BQM in Malaysia.