Animal Waste, Water Quality and Human Health

326Animal Waste, Water Quality and Human Healthwithin a preventative framework, these surveys are one of a suite of procedures,actions and tools collectively designed to reduce exposure risks. Benefits of themulti-barrier approach are stated to be: more effective protection of publichealth, enhanced water quality management, improved public communicationand informed hazard management (Health Canada 2010). In this capacity, theCanadian Environmental Health and Safety Survey (EHSS) serves as a flexible,site-specific blueprint for designing and implementing a recreational waterquality management framework which includes compliance monitoring, publicnotification and mitigation. A properly performed annual EHSS would identifyand assess all potential threats to health and safety (physical, chemical,biological/microbiological) leading to prioritization of intervention measures.An EHSS should be conducted prior to the start of the bathing season andinclude (Health Canada 2010):• a review of historical data/trends/problems; water body characteristic andusage observations;• cataloguing of site-specific physical attributes;• an assessment of potential pollution sources (especially those likely tocontribute human or animal wastes);• an evaluation of current monitoring programme effectiveness; and,• an intervention measures performance appraisal.The final assessment report should culminate in the development of bestbeach-management practices via improved operational plans, includingsite-specific monitoring schemes, which function as a feedback loop forcontinual quality improvement.While used to assess operational quality (reduced closures due to elevated FIOlevels) of shellfish beds in the United States, 1 the push for adoption of astandardized beach sanitary survey for bathing beaches was the result of the GreatLakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC) process (GLRC 2005). Previouslegislation standardized national monitoring protocols employing FIOs andpublic notification, but made no provision for pollution source identification(United States Congress, 2000). The lack of a mechanism by which to identifycontamination sources impacting bathing beaches resulted in 5,104–11,951(2003–2005) water quality failure action days nationally, of which 84 per cent, onaverage, were attributed as (source unknown) (Kovatch 2006). Recognizing thatidentification and mitigation are necessary to reduce risk to human health throughcontact with surface waters and to provide the maximum personal, commercial,and recreational benefit, the GLRC Coastal Health Strategy Team recommended1http://www.buzzardsbay.org/shellclssuccess.htm