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Part III. Appendix 4: User OutreachPUBLIC HEALTHTeam Members: Carol Dorsey and Larry HoneybourneIntroductionPublic health stakeholder issues of concern for the coastal component of IOOS include exposureto pathogens during body-contact recreation, chemical, and microbial contamination of seafoodand anomalous weather, marine organisms, and/or surf events. Stakeholders and product consumers’use of data related to public health issues may include, for example, regulators, commercialshellfish harvesters, researchers evaluating raw water quality data to assess harmful algal blooms,or a Midwestern tourist checking the quality of coastal marine waters for swimming or fishing activities.Though the stakeholders and consumers are varied and have differing degrees of technicalexpertise, they are united in a need to access relevant data for decision making. The diversity of thepublic health group is reflected in the responses of individuals to requests for information for thisreport (Annex D).Some public health data collection activities are rooted in regulatory decision making such asswimming advisories for recreational waters. According to EPA’s National Beach Guidance and RequiredPerformance Criteria for Grants, June 2002, “‘Good’ quality data are those that enable theuser to make the decision at hand with an acceptable risk of error within the required time frame.”Regulatory actions in the interest of public health require reliable, accurate data based on good scienceand delivered in a timely manner. The process of continual quality assurance helps ensure thatthe data meet specified standards and is legally defensible.For example, regional bacterial water-quality observing systems for body-contact recreation purposeshave been extensively implemented along the Southern California coast for many years.Coastal water surf-zone monitoring is conducted by local health departments and publicly ownedwastewater treatment works (POTWs) to meet statutory and NPDES requirements, respectively.Data are compiled from both sources by local health departments to determine compliance withthe State of California, public-health-based, body-contact recreation standards. The developmentof software for data transfer, assimilation, analysis, and compliance determination has recentlybeen successfully completed by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project in conjunctionwith several Southern California county health departments and POTWs. This regionalobserving system includes data acquisition, management and analysis. Regional products includeInternet-accessible public health beach reports and metadata. This cooperative, operational pilotproject could be utilized as a model for the data management portion of the recently enacted federalBEACHES bill as part of IOOS.241