Bathing Waters

Microbial standards and wastewater - what next?

Reference: 23/WW/11/15
ISBN: 978-1-84057-974-1
Published Date: 22/05/2023

With current focus on water quality standards for rivers and bathing waters and incoming legislation to support further action, this project provides a review of latest research into microbial and viral pathogen standards in the context of the UK and Irish water sector. It provides an overview of existing bathing water standards and microbial standards for faecal indicator organisms and the recent Bathing Water Directive consultation and review.

Whilst the project recommends that the water sector retain existing microbial standards, which are aligned with best-science and latest World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Commission (EC) review, it considers opportunities and knowledge gaps - reviewing emerging focus on microbial standards, analysis techniques, current status and potential paths forward for the UK and Irish water sector.

This UKWIR project was led by Jacobs and supported by the Centre for Research into Environment and Health (CREH) at the University of Aberystwyth and WaterFutures, Australia.

Coastal and Estuarine Bacteria Loads for Source Apportionment

Reference: 16/WW/11/14
ISBN: 1 84057 817 3
Published Date: 24/09/2021

The causes of poor bathing water and shellfish water quality represent a significant challenge for the UK water industry. This project has assessed the abundance of faecal indicator organisms (FIOs) in estuarine waters and sediments, with a particular focus on ‘viable but non-culturable’ (VBNC) bacteria, and on viruses. Two study areas were selected for sampling - the Ribble and Conwy estuaries. The results suggest that the VBNC fraction of FIOs in sediments may be significant, especially in the winter. Small quantities of Norovirus were only found at two sampling points in the Ribble, and in the winter only.  Results also indicated that cohesive sediments harbour more bacteria than non-cohesive sediments and the water column. This work has proposed practical recommendations for improving the existing monitoring and modelling framework, which will assist the UK water industry in making more efficient investment planning decisions to improve coastal/estuarine water quality.

Appendix 1 Literature review

Reference: 16/WW/11/14
ISBN: 1 84057 817 3
Published Date: 24/09/2021

The causes of poor bathing water and shellfish water quality represent a significant challenge for the UK water industry. This project has assessed the abundance of faecal indicator organisms (FIOs) in estuarine waters and sediments, with a particular focus on ‘viable but non-culturable’ (VBNC) bacteria, and on viruses. Two study areas were selected for sampling - the Ribble and Conwy estuaries. The results suggest that the VBNC fraction of FIOs in sediments may be significant, especially in the winter. Small quantities of Norovirus were only found at two sampling points in the Ribble, and in the winter only.  Results also indicated that cohesive sediments harbour more bacteria than non-cohesive sediments and the water column. This work has proposed practical recommendations for improving the existing monitoring and modelling framework, which will assist the UK water industry in making more efficient investment planning decisions to improve coastal/estuarine water quality.