Abstract
This manuscript evaluates the U.S. Recreational Water Quality Criteria (RWQC) of 2012, based upon discussions during a conference held 11–13 March 2013, in Honolulu, Hawaii. The RWQC of 2012 did not meet expectations among the research community because key recommended studies were not completed, new data to assess risks to bathers exposed to non-point sources of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) were not developed, and the 2012 RWQC did not show marked improvements in strategies for assessing health risks for bathers using all types of recreational waters. The development of the 2012 RWQC was limited in scope because the epidemiologic studies at beach sites were restricted to beaches with point sources of pollution and water samples were monitored for only enterococci. The vision for the future is development of effective RWQC guidelines based on epidemiologic and quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) studies for sewage specific markers, as well as human enteric pathogens so that health risks for bathers at all recreational waters can be determined. The 2012 RWQC introduced a program for states and tribes to develop site-specific water quality criteria, and in theory this approach can be used to address the limitations associated with the measurements of the traditional FIB.
Highlights
Of 2012, based upon discussions during a conference held 11–13 March 2013, in Honolulu, Hawaii
60%–80% of the impaired waters in the US, are due to non-point sources of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) [23,24,25], these results indicate that the health effects predicted by the 2012 recreational water quality criteria (RWQC) will not be applicable to the majority of the recreational water sites in the US
The use of a risk-based methodology for site-specific alternative criteria has been recommended since 2000 [6,49], no States or local governments have been successful in developing alternate sitespecific criteria that relaxes the fecal indicator bacteria guideline established through the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
Summary
In the development of the 1986 and 2012 RWQC, USEPA used similar epidemiological study designs and selected beaches, which were known to be contaminated with point source sewage discharges. 60%–80% of the impaired waters in the US, are due to non-point sources of FIB [23,24,25], these results indicate that the health effects predicted by the 2012 RWQC will not be applicable to the majority of the recreational water sites in the US In this regard, Gooch-Moore et al [26] reported their concern that the. One possibility is to use molecular methods to determine the specific source of the measured FIB using microbial source tracking technology [28,29,30] Another possibility is to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative sewage markers (Clostridium perfringens, coliphages, Bacteroides) in recreational waters because they have been reported to be more specific markers of sewage than FIB [7].
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