Presentation Abstract
Washington State’s surface water quality standards set limits on pollution in lakes, rivers, and marine waters in order to protect beneficial uses, such as swimming and fishing. Washington State Department of Ecology has recently announced a rulemaking to update recreational use criteria (RUC). Recreational use criteria are intended to protect human health while enjoying water-related activities. Recreational use criteria are based on bacterial indicators rather than direct measurements of pathogens. Washington’s current bacterial indicator, fecal coliform, was removed from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recommendations in 1986. The EPA is now requiring states update their RUC to the new bacterial indicators, Escherichia coli (E. coli) or enterococcus. EPA epidemiological studies have demonstrated that fecal coliform does not correlate with gastrointestinal illnesses and is not a suitable indicator for recreating in waters. Contrarily, E. coli and enterococcus have a strong correlation with swimming-related gastrointestinal illnesses. In marine waters, Washington has adopted a single fecal coliform criterion for shellfish harvesting and primary contact recreation uses. Shellfish harvesting is regulated by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and has a more stringent fecal coliform criterion than contact recreation. To protect for both uses, Washington adopted the more stringent FDA’s fecal coliform criterion for shellfish harvesting and applied it to primary contact recreation. However, with the advent of new bacterial indicators, the shellfish harvesting and the primary contact recreation criterion will become decoupled. Shellfish harvesting will continue using FDA’s fecal coliform based criteria, while contact recreation will be based on enterococcus for marine waters. The objective of this presentation is to discuss the options for RUC for Washington State, implementation of new criteria, and policy outcomes of the rulemaking. Other topics will include determining acceptable levels of risk using bacterial indicators, background risks, and site-specific variability.
Session Title
Policy and Management Challenges for Restoring and Protecting Water Quality in the Salish Sea
Keywords
Human health, Recreation, Water quality
Conference Track
SSE8: Policy, Management, and Regulations
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2018 : Seattle, Wash.)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE8-451
Start Date
5-4-2018 2:00 PM
End Date
5-4-2018 2:15 PM
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Water quality management--Law and legislation--Washington (State); Escherichia coli--Washington (State)--Puget Sound
Geographic Coverage
Puget Sound (Wash.)--Recreational use
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Included in
Fresh Water Studies Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons
Changes to Washington State's recreational use criteria and implications for surface waters
Washington State’s surface water quality standards set limits on pollution in lakes, rivers, and marine waters in order to protect beneficial uses, such as swimming and fishing. Washington State Department of Ecology has recently announced a rulemaking to update recreational use criteria (RUC). Recreational use criteria are intended to protect human health while enjoying water-related activities. Recreational use criteria are based on bacterial indicators rather than direct measurements of pathogens. Washington’s current bacterial indicator, fecal coliform, was removed from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recommendations in 1986. The EPA is now requiring states update their RUC to the new bacterial indicators, Escherichia coli (E. coli) or enterococcus. EPA epidemiological studies have demonstrated that fecal coliform does not correlate with gastrointestinal illnesses and is not a suitable indicator for recreating in waters. Contrarily, E. coli and enterococcus have a strong correlation with swimming-related gastrointestinal illnesses. In marine waters, Washington has adopted a single fecal coliform criterion for shellfish harvesting and primary contact recreation uses. Shellfish harvesting is regulated by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and has a more stringent fecal coliform criterion than contact recreation. To protect for both uses, Washington adopted the more stringent FDA’s fecal coliform criterion for shellfish harvesting and applied it to primary contact recreation. However, with the advent of new bacterial indicators, the shellfish harvesting and the primary contact recreation criterion will become decoupled. Shellfish harvesting will continue using FDA’s fecal coliform based criteria, while contact recreation will be based on enterococcus for marine waters. The objective of this presentation is to discuss the options for RUC for Washington State, implementation of new criteria, and policy outcomes of the rulemaking. Other topics will include determining acceptable levels of risk using bacterial indicators, background risks, and site-specific variability.
