Hosted by US Environmental Protection Agency
1. Becoming Uncultured: Daily Recreational Water Quality Monitoring and Public Notification at Chicago Beaches Using qPCR
Abhilasha Shrestha, PhD, University of Illinois Chicago
Beach water monitoring and notification is vital for protecting the health of beachgoers. Traditionally, beach monitoring has relied on culturing fecal indicator bacteria using methods that require 18-24 hours to generate results, thus providing outdated information for current beach management decisions. In the 2012 Recreational Water Quality Criteria (RWQC), the USEPA endorsed a qPCR method for rapidly measuring enterococci. Since 2015, through a partnership between Chicago Park District (CPD) and the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health (UIC SPH), Chicagoans have daily beach monitoring notifications typically within four hours. Having a well-trained team and consistent daily schedule proved essential for delivering timely and high-quality qPCR results to guide same-day beach management decisions. Given that culture-based results from the previous day can often lead to erroneous beach management decisions, the rapid molecular method should be regarded as the benchmark for public health protection.
In this presentation, the discussion will focus on how, following a two-year pilot program of rapid molecular testing of beach water samples, in 2017, Chicago became the first large U.S. city to issue same-day water-quality warnings for all its public recreational beaches and has successfully done so every year after that. The CPD and UIC SPH partnership illustrates that true daily beach monitoring using same-day water quality results is an achievable goal.
2. Standard Control Material for Quantitative Real-Time PCR Recreational Water Quality Monitoring
Orin Shanks, PhD, EPA Office of Research and Development
Fecal pollution remains a significant challenge for recreational water quality managers. The use of quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) methods is increasing, allowing for same day beach water quality public notification and identification of key fecal pollution sources. However, widespread implementation requires access to a high-quality standard control material. This presentation describes a collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop Standard Reference Material® 2917 (SRM 2917), SRM 2917 “fit for purpose” performance assessment, and implications for qPCR recreational water monitoring implementation.