Lake Erie Beach Monitoring
Ohio Water Science Center
USGS In Your State
USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.
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Source Tracking at Beaches
Sources of fecal contamination to beaches
include stormwater runoff, combined- and sanitary-sewer overflows; treated
wastewater effluents; effluents from private sewage-treatment systems, including
septic tanks; and fecal pollution from birds, swimmers, dogs, or boaters. Identifying
and mitigating the source of fecal contamination to a particular beach is often
complicated by the spatial and temporal variability of bacterial-indicator
concentrations and the dynamic lake currents, weather patterns, and natural
processes that affect these concentrations. In addition, many of the sources
are of nonpoint origin and not easily identified.
![Lakewater Beach Lakewater Beach](micro2/beach_page/Lakeshore%20008.jpg)
Applying several source tracking tools is practical at many beaches. These include identifying spatial
and temporal patterns of bacterial indicator concentrations, determining weather
patterns that cause elevated concentrations, understanding coastal hydrologic
processes that affect transport and survival of bacterial indicators, and
applying microbial source tracking techniques to specific sites. Examples of
two source tracking studies at Ohio beaches are listed below.
A Spatial, Multivariable Approach
for Identifying Proximate Sources of Escherichia coli to Maumee Bay, Lake
Erie, Ohio.
Use of Spatial Sampling and
Microbial Source-Tracking Tools for Understanding Fecal Contamination at Two
Lake Erie Beaches.
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