Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring Program

Michele M. Monti

Division of Zoonotic and

Environmental Epidemiology

Office of Epidemiology

Virginia Department of Health

Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring Program

BEACH Act of 2000– Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health

Act – 10/10/2000

– beaches in VA had been monitored since 1960’s Norfolk & VA Beach

– EPA BEACH Act funds created a state-coordinated program in VDH starting in December 2001

– funds used for 2002 monitoring season @ VA Beach and Norfolk

Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring ProgramSampling conducted by local health departments or health districtsVirginia Beach and Norfolk – long-term monitoring programs - 2002 fundsHampton, Newport News/Yorktown, King George Co. began beach monitoring in 2003Eastern Shore and Gloucester in 2004Festival Beach in Mathews Co. in 2006

Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring Program

What are the requirements?– States must adopt EPA Bacteria Criteria for

Recreational Waters

VA Water Quality Standards – Effective 1/15/03

Freshwater Marine waters

Geometric mean (from 2 or more samples in same calendar month)

E. coli - 126/100 ml

Geometric mean (from 2 or more samples in same calendar month)

enterococci - 35/100 ml

Single sample maximum

E. coli - 235/100 ml

Single sample maximum

enterococci – 104/100 ml

Indicator Organism for Virginia’s Marine waters Enterococci Enterococci instead of E. coli because

enterococci has been found to be a better indicator of gastrointestinal illness in swimmers.

EPA single sample standard for enterococci: Cannot exceed 104 cfu

At 105 cfu or above, we issue a swimming advisory

Waterborne Pathogens

Enteric organisms - found in fecal wastes– Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Campylobacter,

Salmonella, E. coli, Hepatitis A, norovirus

Indigenous organisms - naturally occurring in marine/estuarine environments– Vibrio, Mycobacterium

Sources of Contaminants

Stormwater drainpipes Pets (esp. dogs) Boat holding tanks Wildlife (waterfowl, raccoons, deer, etc.) Overflows at pumping stations, sewage

treatment plants, residential & commercial sewage overflows (i.e., septic and sewer backups/failures/ overflows)

Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring Program

What are the requirements?– States must adopt EPA Bacteria Criteria for

Recreational Waters– States must submit beach water quality

monitoring and notification data to EPA• XML schema - STORET

– 1x/year submission

• Web-enabled database for bacteria data - 2007

Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring Program

What are the requirements?– States must adopt EPA Bacteria Criteria for

Recreational Waters– States must submit beach water quality

monitoring and notification data to EPA– Monitoring Plan – frequency, locations

• QA/QC plan; tiered monitoring plan; protocols for sampling collection and analysis; predictive tools (for anticipating problems; pre-emptive closures)

Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring Program weekly monitoring – all

beaches Tier 1 (48) season mid-May thru

September Approved QAPP –

includes protocols for sampling & analysis

working on rainfall & bacteria predictive model, not enough data, site-specific

pre-emptive closures/advisories based on rain and sewage overflow

Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring Program

Sterile 100 ml bottles used for beach water sample

Meters used to obtain dissolved oxygen, salinity, temperature and pH of water

Samples must be delivered to lab & analysis begun w/in 6 hours

Methods/Labs Used for Enterococci Analysis

Enterolert– VA Beach– Newport News

Waterworks

Method 1600 - MF– Norfolk– VDH -Shellfish Labs

• Accomac – eastern shore

– State lab – DCLS

Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring Program

What are the requirements?– States must adopt EPA Bacteria Criteria for

Recreational Waters– States must submit beach water quality

monitoring and notification data to EPA– Monitoring Plan – frequency, locations– Notification Plan – when and how to issue an

advisory; public scrutiny of monitoring plan; press releases, web page(s)

Virginia’s BEACH Monitoring Program

Reporting to the public Reporting to local govts VDH web page: www.vdh.virginia.gov

http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/Epidemiology/DZEE/BeachMonitoring/

Media Relations

Establish good relationships w/ your local reporters

Public Notification and Risk Communication Swimming Advisories

2004 – 11 beaches, 27 advisories, 114 advisory days

2005 – 8 beaches, 14 advisories, 43 advisory days

2006 – 4 beaches, 8 advisories, 43 advisory days (*33)

Hampton -

diverted stormwater away from beach; repaired crack in ww pipe

Newport News – illegal hookup of ww to sw; ghost ww pipe found and capped; illegal hookup of trailer park ww to sw

Problems: Solved

Microbial Source Tracking- VA Tech

Source tracking– Antibiotic resistance analysis– Dr. Charles Hagedorn

Fluorometer – human or animal?

Indicator/Pathogens Rapid Methods Study - VIMS

PCR Analysis (standard and real-time) – Dr. Howard Kator, Dr. Kim Reece– E. coli, Enterococcus faecalis/faecium,– Staphylococcus sp.– noroviruses

w/ comparison to standardized culture assays