Animal Waste, Water Quality and Human Health

Indicators, sanitary surveys and source attribution techniques 321• bacterial concentrations may change abruptly, both spatially and temporally,so that singular microbial assessments become mere snapshots of waterquality captured at a single moment in time (Whitman et al. 2004a).Furthermore, conclusions drawn from epidemiological studies conducted atbeaches in proximity to potential point sources of faecal contamination (i.e.sewage outfalls) do not address the relative risk of exposure in the instancewhere bacterial contamination is predominately from diffuse or animal sources(Kay et al. 1999, Colford et al. 2007).9.2 FIOs – ALTERNATIVE/SECONDARY INDICATORSAND NEW APPROACHESProblems remain in correlating water quality, as identified by these FIOs, to adversehealth outcomes like gastrointestinal illness, many related to the suitability ofindicator species used to set standards (Godfree et al. 1990, Kay et al. 1996). Inaddition to faecal sources (human or animal), indicators may be autochthonous inthe environment in association with sediments (Byappanahalli et al. 2003a, Francy& Gifford 2002, Francy et al. 2003, Shively et al. 2003, Whitman et al. 2003a) orplant material (Byappanahalli et al. 2003b, Whitman et al. 2003b). They may alsobe resuscitated from a non-culturable state, even in the Polar regions (Smith et al.1994, Pommepuy et al. 1996). Studies have indicated that FIOs such as total andfaecal coliforms, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, and enterococci, areassociated with humans and a variety of animal hosts and may be subject toenvironmental replication and/or persistence, challenging their ability to supportthe discrimination between recent contamination events (Davies et al. 1995,Anderson et al. 1997, Alm et al. 2006, Kon et al. 2007, Ksoll et al. 2007, Poteet al. 2009, Yamahara et al. 2009).9.2.1 Alternative or secondary indicatorsResearch evaluating the suitability of organisms other than E. coli and enterococcias indicators of recreational water quality began over 30 years ago due to concernssuch as inconsistencies in the relationship between pathogens and current pathogenindicators (Bisson & Cabelli 1980, Lund 1996, Lemarchand & Lebaron 2003,Nevers & Whitman 2004a). Some studies have suggested alternative bacteria orviral indicators such as coliphages (Toranzos 1991, Beaudeau et al. 2002,Lovelace 2004), Pseudomonas (Cabelli et al. 1976), enterovirus (Gersburg2004, Noble et al. 2004, Fuhrman et al. 2005), Bacteroidales (Walters et al.2007), and Clostridium perfringens (Bisson & Cabelli 1980, Fujioka &Shizumura 1985, Fujioka 1997, Rose 2004) on the premise that they may have a