New recreational water testing alternatives
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Date
2013-03-13
Authors
Kesteloot, Kurt
Azizan, Azliyati
Whitman, Richard
Nevers, Meredith
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Park Science is a research and resource management journal
Abstract
Each year recreational water users descend on national parks by the
millions. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations require monitoring
waters for fecal indicator bacteria in order to safeguard human health, and obtaining
results using the culturing method takes 18 hours or more of analytical time. Thus,
under this surveillance regime swimmers can be exposed to waterborne disease
organisms before health advisories can be issued. To address the need for timelier
notification of recreational water quality, the EPA has evaluated and approved new and
faster testing methods as of November 2012. This article discusses new recreational
water testing methodologies such as qPCR, empirical predictive modeling, rainfall
threshold levels, and advanced notification options for park managers to consider and
tailor to their needs.
Description
Keywords
advanced notification, empirical predictive modeling, qPCR, rainfall threshold levels, recreational water testing, water-quality testing, Research Subject Categories::MEDICINE