An evaluation of southeastern Ontario recreational water quality

Fecal contamination in recreational waters causes adverse health outcomes in humans; yet, surprisingly, a paucity of literature addresses recreational water quality in North America. The authors addressed this gap by evaluating E. coli contamination of southeastern Ontario, Canada, recreational beac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental health 2015-06, Vol.77 (10), p.26-33
Main Authors: Bennell, Maria C, Joyce, Alan, Gardner, Edward, Majury, Anna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bathing Beaches
Beaches
Colony Count, Microbial
Contamination
E coli
Environmental protection
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli - isolation & purification
Fecal coliforms
Feces
Feces - microbiology
Health
Health aspects
Lakes - microbiology
Membrane filtration
Microbial contamination
Ontario
Recreation
Recreational waters
Sampling
Seasons
Statistical methods
Studies
Water
Water analysis
Water pollution
Water Quality
Water sampling
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Summary:Fecal contamination in recreational waters causes adverse health outcomes in humans; yet, surprisingly, a paucity of literature addresses recreational water quality in North America. The authors addressed this gap by evaluating E. coli contamination of southeastern Ontario, Canada, recreational beach waters between the years 2008-2011. They tested water samples for microbial contamination by the membrane filtration method. They used Friedman's and repeated measures analyses of variance and descriptive statistics to assess annual and monthly E. coli levels as well as noncompliance to the Ontario bathing beach standard. Seven waters showed high noncompliance to the Ontario standard, which could negatively affect the health of local recreational beach users. The authors' study provides much needed baseline information on beach water quality. They call for greater recreational water sampling and reporting standardization across North American jurisdictions.
ISSN:0022-0892