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Back to Press ReleasesSource Leslie Dorworth, Sea Grant Aquatic Ecology Specialist, 219
989-2726 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 1998 When the "Beach Closed" signs go up along Lake Michigan's shoreline, beachgoers are disappointed that a day of fun is spoiled. And business owners are disappointed at lost revenue. Reducing those beach closures may be a step closer with recent Sea Grant funded research. Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant-funded research has confirmed a method to help identify the source of E. coli water contamination. Sea Grant funded researchers Charles Tseng and Evert Ting used an integrated cell culture, RT-PCR method, in which they evaluated microbiological contamination of Burns Ditch, a polluted stream flowing into Lake Michigan in northwest Indiana. Great Lakes beaches are monitored by federal, state and county agencies to determine whether or not they are safe for swimming, and a U. S. EPA report noted approximately 40 to 80 Great Lakes beach closings annually between 1981 and 1994. The most common cause of Great Lakes beach closure is high levels of fecal coliform (E. coli) contamination. The researchers, located at Purdue University Calumet, selected a celite flocculation method to detect contamination in Burns Ditch just downstream from a sewage plant on a day following heavy rainfall. The presence of poliovirus immunization particles was an indicator that human waste contributed to the contamination. Immunization particles leave the body in body waste. "Because of immunizations, however, the particles pose no risk of polio," said Leslie Dorworth, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant aquatic ecology specialist. "Agencies monitor E. coli because swimmers exposed to elevated levels of bacteria risk ear, skin and intestinal infections. Beach contamination has been linked to combined sewer overflows, failed septic systems and marinas."
Irene Miles |
