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Whiley, H.; Austin, J.; da Silva, G.M., and Ross, K., 2018. Faecal indicator bacteria present in sand at South Port Beach, South Australia. Research has demonstrated that bacterial pathogens present in beach sand may be a risk to human health. The indicator species enterococci, total coliforms, and Escherichia coli were measured in beach sand collected from South Port Beach, South Australia, a popular recreational beach. Samples were collected from five distances from the low tide mark (low tide, 10 m, 20 m, 30 m, and 40 m), at three depths (surface, 10 cm down, and 30 cm down), and at five sampling times over a 3-month period. During this time there was a storm that resulted in significant movement of sand from the beach and high flow of the nearby river, and coincided with increased bacterial load. Within a week the bacterial load had returned to previously measured levels. In general, higher bacterial counts were at the surface level compared with 10 and 30 cm below the surface, and the lower counts were at the low tide mark, with increasing distance from the low tide resulting in increasing bacterial loads, and the highest load at the dune edge. This research provides information about the potential health risk of beach sand and a baseline for future studies exploring the microbial risks of Australian beach sand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of Shokarski stormwater canal on the bathing waters quality of Varna Bay located in the northern Bulgarian Black Sea was investigated during 2007-2014. A total of five monitoring stations were selected: three city beaches near the area of discharge of the stormwater canal and two nearby resorts beaches. The water quality was assessed following the requirements of the old EU Bathing Water Directive (BWD) 76/160/EEC and the new BWD 2006/7/EC. The resort beaches exhibited excellent water quality through the whole period. The situation at the city beaches was worst. The 'Officers Beach' situated exactly at the area of discharge of Shokarski stormwater canal exhibited concentrations of ammonium and nitrates significantly above the guide value in most of the cases, the lowest compliance with the total coliforms and faecal coliforms guide values and the highest concentrations of Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several beaches within the Toronto region area of concern have persistent issues with fecal contamination, causing a beach beneficial use impairment (BUI). In this study, Escherichia coli, including ampicillin-resistant strains, were enumerated via culturable and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) methods. Microbial source tracking (MST) markers (for general Bacteroidales, human, ruminant/cow, gull, and dog) were detected and enumerated via PCR and qPCR to identify sources of fecal contamination at Sunnyside Beach and in the Humber River. Human, cow, and dog markers had good host-specificity, while gull markers sometimes amplified a few other bird species. The ruminant endpoint PCR marker amplified a variety of other animal species rendering it less useful. Both human and gull fecal contamination were prevalent in the Humber River, while Sunnyside Beach was predominantly impacted by gull fecal contamination. Human sewage impacts were more prevalent in the lower Humber River, particularly in Black Creek. However, to reduce Sunnyside beach postings, reducing bird fecal contamination in the river and at the beach would be necessary. When there are high levels of E. coli throughout a beachshed, an MST toolbox approach can add value to discriminate source(s) of E. coli contamination and guide decisions relating to public health risk and remediation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work has been carried out to monitor and decrease the natural radiation exposure at the Hantepe beach (Çanakkale, Turkey). A 0.25- to 0.30-m-thick layer of sand was scraped, removed and deposited in a safe place in order to decrease people's exposure to radiation and to relieve relevant radiophobia. The original mean value of dose rate on the beach was 1.38 μGy h−1 at the contact and 1.0 μGy h−1 at 1 m above the ground. After the scraping process, the mean value of dose rate decreased to 0.98 μGy h−1 at the contact and to 0.78 μGy h−1 at 1 m above the ground. One year later, these values decreased to 0.70 μGy h−1 at the contact and to 0.56 μGy h−1 at 1 m above the ground. The effective original dose rate of 1.2 mSv y−1 decreased to 0.95 mSv y−1 after the surface treatment and to 0.69 mSv y−1 one year later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]