Fecal Impairment Framework, A New Conceptual Framework for Assessing Fecal Contamination in Recreational Waters.

Autor: Hart JJ; Robert B. Annis Water Resources Institute, 740 West Shoreline Dr, Muskegon, MI, 49441, USA. hartjoh@mail.gvsu.edu., Jamison MN; Department of Chemistry, Oakland University, 146 Library Dr., Rochester, MI, 48309, USA.; The Ohio State University, 281 W Lane Ave, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA., Porter AM; Robert B. Annis Water Resources Institute, 740 West Shoreline Dr, Muskegon, MI, 49441, USA., McNair JN; Robert B. Annis Water Resources Institute, 740 West Shoreline Dr, Muskegon, MI, 49441, USA., Szlag DC; Department of Chemistry, Oakland University, 146 Library Dr., Rochester, MI, 48309, USA., Rediske RR; Robert B. Annis Water Resources Institute, 740 West Shoreline Dr, Muskegon, MI, 49441, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Environmental management [Environ Manage] 2024 Feb; Vol. 73 (2), pp. 443-456. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Sep 02.
DOI: 10.1007/s00267-023-01878-x
Abstrakt: Fecal pollution of surface water is a pervasive problem that negatively affects waterbodies concerning both public health and ecological functions. Current assessment methods monitor fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) to identify pollution sources using culture-based quantification and microbial source tracking (MST). These types of information assist stakeholders in identifying likely sources of fecal pollution, prioritizing them for remediation, and choosing appropriate best management practices. While both culture-based quantification and MST are useful, they yield different kinds of information, potentially increasing uncertainty in prioritizing sources for management. This study presents a conceptual framework that takes separate human health risk estimates based on measured MST and E. coli concentrations as inputs and produces an estimate of the overall fecal impairment risk as its output. The proposed framework is intended to serve as a supplemental screening tool for existing monitoring programs to aid in identifying and prioritizing sites for remediation. In this study, we evaluated the framework by applying it to two primarily agricultural watersheds and several freshwater recreational beaches using existing routine monitoring data. Based on a combination of E. coli and MST results, the proposed fecal impairment framework identified four sites in the watersheds as candidates for remediation and identified temporal trends in the beach application. As these case studies demonstrate, the proposed fecal impairment framework is an easy-to-use and cost-effective supplemental screening tool that provides actionable information to managers using existing routine monitoring data, without requiring specialized expertize.
(© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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