Offshore Industry News

New Guide Helps Citizen Groups Address Harmful Bacteria in Local Waterways

The Center for Watershed Protection, Inc. (the Center) has released a new guide for citizen science groups and watershed organizations across the nation to take a role in finding and eliminating sources of harmful bacteria in their communities.

Bacteria is one of the most common pollutants in our nation's waterways. Researchers and regulatory agencies have determined that monitoring bacteria in waterways can help identify human health risks associated with drinking water, shellfish consumption, and recreational water contact.

“Harmful bacteria from sewer leaks, illegal dumping and failing septic systems pose a serious threat to human health,” said Hye Yeong Kwon, executive director of the Center.

Safe Waters, Healthy Waters: A Guide for Citizen Groups on Bacteria Monitoring in Local Waterways, outlines how to identify areas with high bacteria, narrow down the potential sources and share findings with the public. The guide provides step-by-step instructions to create a customized bacteria monitoring program, methods to investigate potential pollutant sources, and resources for putting collected data to use. It focuses especially on human sewage sources and monitoring techniques that are simple, reliable and low-cost. The new document draws upon the Center's work over the past decade investigating sewage leaks and other illicit discharges--such as storm drains that have measurable flow during dry weather containing pollutants or pathogens--that are far too common in the nation's streams, rivers and lakes.

“Citizen monitoring programs can help to sample where other agencies aren't testing or provide data to convince local agencies to establish monitoring programs,” Kwon said. “It is also an effective way to improve the public's knowledge of the safety of their water and to act as a ‘watchdog’ to ensure that local agencies are addressing the problem.”

The guide includes several case studies detailing successful monitoring programs and the actions that resulted from them. Download for free.

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