Marine and Freshwater Beach Testing in Massachusetts Annual Report: 2013 Season Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Environmental Health Environmental Toxicology Program http://www.mass.gov/dph/beaches June 2014 This page is intentionally left blank. 2 PART ONE: THE MDPH/BEH BEACHES PROJECT 5 I. Overview .......................................................................................................... 7 II. Background ...................................................................................................... 7 A. Beach Water Quality & Health: The Need for Testing ...................................................... 7 B. Establishment of the MDPH/BEH Beaches Project .......................................................... 8 III. Beach Water Quality Monitoring ....................................................................... 9 A. Sample collection .............................................................................................................. 9 B. Sample analysis ................................................................................................................ 9 1. The MDPH contract laboratory program .................................................................... 9 2. The use of indicators .................................................................................................. 9 3. Enterococci ................................................................................................................. 10 4. E. coli .......................................................................................................................... 10 5. Laboratory Methods ................................................................................................... 10 6. Bacterial Standards .................................................................................................... 10 C. Reporting .......................................................................................................................... 11 1. The Beaches Website ................................................................................................ 12 2. Exceedances: Beach Closures & Public Notification ................................................. 12 3. Data Management ...................................................................................................... 13 D. Quality Assurance ............................................................................................................. 13 E. The Tier System and Frequency of Testing ..................................................................... 13 1. The Three Tiers .......................................................................................................... 14 2. Sanitary Surveys and Variances ................................................................................ 14 IV. Limitations ........................................................................................................ 15 PART TWO: THE 2013 BATHING SEASON 17 I. MDPH ACCOMPLISHMENTS .......................................................................... 19 A. Beaches Website/Data Management ............................................................................... 19 B. Trainings ........................................................................................................................... 19 C. Quality Assurance ............................................................................................................. 20 D. Laboratory Program .......................................................................................................... 20 E. Emergency Response ...................................................................................................... 21 II. MONITORING .................................................................................................. 22 A. Results .............................................................................................................................. 22 1. Marine Beaches ......................................................................................................... 22 2. Freshwater Beaches .................................................................................................. 24 B. Analysis of Results ........................................................................................................... 25 III. FUTURE PLANS .............................................................................................. 30 A. Direct Web-Based Reporting ............................................................................................ 30 B. Training and Community Outreach ................................................................................... 30 C. Sanitary Surveys ............................................................................................................... 30 D. Amendments to Bathing Beach Regulations .................................................................... 31 IV. SUMMARY ....................................................................................................... 32 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 33 REFERENCES 35 TABLES 39 FIGURES 85 APPENDICES 95 3 This page is intentionally left blank. 4 PART ONE: THE MDPH/BEH BEACHES PROJECT 5 This page is intentionally left blank. 6 I. OVERVIEW There are over 1,000 public and semi-public bathing beaches in Massachusetts, both freshwater and marine. Depending on weather and a variety of other changing conditions, beach water sometimes contains bacteria at levels that can cause health problems such as sore throat, gastroenteritis, or even meningitis or encephalitis.1 Therefore, it is critical to ensure that bacteria levels at beaches are monitored, and that such levels are acceptable and within U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and state regulatory standards. In 2013, 4.9% (n=755) of all samples collected during the bathing season exceeded bacterial standards, resulting in temporary beach closures. In Massachusetts, bathing beach water quality is regulated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) under Massachusetts General Law2 and the Code of Massachusetts Regulations.3 These require that all public and semi-public bathing beaches (e.g., beaches at camps, campgrounds, hotels, condominiums, country clubs) in the state be monitored for bacterial, and on occasion other environmental contamination during the bathing beach season. The exact dates of a given bathing season vary from beach to beach, and are determined by the operators of each individual beach. Some beaches open as early as Memorial Day, but the majority begin operation when the school year ends in mid-June, and most close for the season during the week of Labor Day. II. BACKGROUND A. Beach Water Quality & Health: The Need for Testing The health risks associated with both marine and freshwater swimming have been demonstrated in numerous studies. Swimmers may ingest or come in contact with pathogens (illness-causing microorganisms), and several prospective and retrospective epidemiological studies have demonstrated an increased risk of disease among swimmers relative to non-swimmers in both marine and fresh waters that are polluted with pathogens (e.g., bacteria and viruses).4 One retrospective study found the relative risk of gastrointestinal (GI) illness among swimmers in polluted waters to be one to three times that of non-swimmers.5 Swimming in polluted marine water can lead to gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g., nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain), respiratory symptoms (e.g., sore throat, cough, chest cold, runny nose, sneezing), eye and ear symptoms (e.g., irritation, earache, itchiness), dermatological symptoms (e.g., skin rash, pruritis), or constitutional symptoms (e.g., fever, chills). Several studies conducted by the USEPA and others have also associated gastrointestinal symptoms with swimming in polluted fresh waters, and more recent studies 1 Cabelli, 1983; USEPA, 1986; Cabelli, 1989; Haile, 1996; Pruss, 1998. 2 MGL Chapter (C) 111, § Section (S) 5. See Appendix A. 3 105 CMR 445.000: Minimum Standards for Bathing Beaches (State Sanitary Code, Chapter VII). See Appendix B. 4 Cabelli et al., 1982; Cabelli, 1983; USEPA, 1986; Cabelli, 1989; Coye and Goldoft,1989; CDC, 1990-2004; Corbett et al., 1993; Haile, 1996; Pruss, 1998. 5 Pruss, 1998. 7 have reaffirmed that there is a significant association between swimming in contaminated water and gastrointestinal illness.6 Pathogens in beach waters typically have a fecal source, and pathogens associated with human fecal matter (e.g., some strains of Escherichia coli) may enter both marine and fresh beach waters in a variety of ways. Many of these pathways involve sewage: system failures in human sewage treatment facilities, leaking sewer pipes, combined sewer overflows, illegal sewer hookups, leachate from septic systems, or discharge of sewage by boats. Other sources of pathogens in beach waters include (but are not limited to) rainfall and resulting surface water runoff (washing contaminants such as animal wastes from dogs or farms into beach water). Bathers may also contribute significantly to pathogen concentrations in recreational waters,7 and swimmer-to-swimmer contamination is another potential source for microbial contamination. All of these factors contribute to elevations in bacteria which can cause illness among swimmers. B. Establishment of the MDPH/BEH Beaches Project Responding to these health concerns, state and