Evidence for localized bacterial loading as the cause of chronic beach closings in a freshwater marina

Abstract

We conducted a comprehensive regional spatial assessment of bacterial water quality in order to determine the points of entry of fecal pollution into a swimming beach area on Lake Michigan that historically has had numerous water quality advisories for elevated levels of Escherichia coli ( E. coli). Intensive, consecutive-day water samples were collected during dry and rainy conditions across multiple shoreline and offshore sites, and E. coli levels were enumerated from these samples. For both dry and rainy days, shoreline sites demonstrated significantly higher E. coli levels than offshore regions. We found that offshore (10–150 m from shore) E. coli levels did not exceed 235 CFU/100 ml in more than 5% of the samples collected for 19 surveys ( n=209). In contrast, samples taken at the beach area exceeded 235 CFU/100 ml in 66% of the samples collected for 43 shoreline surveys ( n=675). Locally high E. coli levels coincided with bird presence and stormwater at the swimming beach located within the marina, and were unrelated to E. coli levels in connecting harbor waters. We conclude that beach water quality may be impacted by local, persistent contamination, which may confound routine beach monitoring and prevent the detection of regional pollution from other sources.