News Briefs: (1) New Tool for Determining Cause of Ecological Harm to Rivers and Streams; (2) EPA Provides Faster Water Quality Tests for Safe Beach Swimming
*News Briefs *If you need more information on any of these subjects, call the listed Press Officer. For Release: (Washington, D.C. -- Wednesday, January 25, 2006)* (1) New Tool for Determining Cause of Ecological Harm to Rivers and Streams (2) EPA Provides Faster Water Quality Tests for **Safe** **Beach** Swimming (1) New Tool for Determining Cause of Ecological Harm to Rivers and Streams *Contact: Suzanne Ackerman, 202-564-4355 / ackerman.suzanne@epa.gov* *To improve the nation's waters, EPA has released a new web-based tool, the Causal Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS), which simplifies determining the cause of contamination in impaired rivers, streams and estuaries. An impaired body of water does not meet the state or federal water quality standards for one or more pollutants. More than a thousand U.S. water bodies have been identified as impaired, and in many cases, the cause is unknown. There are many possible sources of pollution such as industrial waste, municipal sewage, agricultural runoff, naturally occurring minerals in rock and sand, and biological materials. Before restorative or remedial actions can be taken, the cause of impairment must be determined. By helping to find the source of contamination, state and local organizations will be better able to implement the Clean Water Act. CADDIS provides a standardized and easily accessible system to help scientists find, use and share information to determine the causes of aquatic impairment. Causal analyses look at stressor-response relationships, meaning the effect of a specific substance or activity (stressor) on the environment. Typical water stressors include excess fine sediments, nutrients, or toxic substances. CADDIS was developed by EPA scientists through partnerships with EPA programs and regions, as well as states and tribes. "The development of CADDIS has been an impressive effort and a great example of customer focus by EPA's Office of Research and Development," said Michael Shapiro, deputy assistant administrator in EPA's Office of Water The version of CADDIS released today is the first of three. Future versions will include modules to quantify stressor-response relationships, and databases and syntheses of relevant literature on sediments and toxic metals. CADDIS is available on EPA's Web pages at: http://www.epa.gov/caddis [ http://www.epa.gov/caddis ] *(2) EPA Provides Faster Water Quality Tests for **Safe** **Beach** Swimming * Contact: Suzanne Ackerman, 202-564-4355 / ackerman.suzanne@epa.gov EPA researchers developed a new rapid method for testing beach water quality that will protect Americans' health by reducing the time for detecting bacterial contamination from 24 hours to just two. In tests done at two Great Lakes beaches, researchers verified that the more rapid method accurately predicts possible adverse health effects from bacterial contamination. The results of the study will help support new federal criteria and limits for water quality indicators in recreational waters. The paper, published in the January 2006 issue of "Environmental Health Perspectives,"" "presents some of the first findings of the National Epidemiological and Environmental Assessment of Recreational (NEEAR) Water Study. NEEAR is a multi-year research project being conducted by EPA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The first phase of the project assessed the new method in the Great Lakes. The next phase will collect and analyze similar data at ocean beaches. "This research provides a new DNA-based tool that can be used by Great Lakes beach managers to test the water quality in the morning and make same-day decisions on beach warnings or closing - often before people even go into the water to swim, " said George Gray, assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development. "This tool is an excellent real-world example of how EPA is working to protect the health of people. We can provide them with useful, practical information with which to make decisions that affect their lives and health." Approximately 89 million Americans enjoy swimming in recreational waters each year. If the water is contaminated with bacteria or other pathogens from sewage, it can lead to unwanted health effects, leading to gastrointestinal, respiratory, eye, and ear illnesses. This study shows a strong link between bacteria (that originates with sewage) identified using the new technology and the health of swimmers. The research used DNA analysis to quantify two types of bacteria, enterococci and bacteroides," "in the water at two beaches on Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. The results of the water quality tests were then correlated to health surveys of beach-goers who swam at the beaches, by interviewing beach goers as they left the beach, and again by telephone 10 to 12 days after their beach visit. For more information on the NEEAR Water Study, visit the Web at: http://www.epa.gov/NEEAR/ [ http://www.epa.gov/NEEAR/ ] R018 [ http://service.govdelivery.com/service/edition.html?code=USAEPA_22&format=Web&email_type=bulletin ] You can update or cancel your subscription at any time [ https://www.govdocs.com/service/user.html?code=USAEPA ]. You need only your e-mail address (and your password if you have selected one). This service is provided free of charge by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 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