FAECAL INDICATORS AND PATHOGENS: EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE MICROBIOLOGY COMMUNITY

摘要

Demands for a high quahty science evidence-base and policy support by regulators, government and operational managers is increasing rapidly in the field of faecal indicators and pathogens. This dynamic is driven by emerging regulatory paradigms in North America, Europe and Austral-Asia underpinned by international science led organisations such as the WHO (the World Health Organisation). Central to this development is the requirement to manage microbial risks in an integrated manner at the catchment scale. This implies quantification of diverse pollutant sources with very different flux quantity and timing. The complex spatial and temporal input pattern of microbial flux then undergoes complex processes causing attenuation, and possibly regrowth, in many catchment compartments such as the land surface, soil systems, groundwater, river waters and sediments and, thence, in estuarine and near-shore systems. Notwithstanding this complexity, which has received very little research attention when compared to: for example, the nutrient parameters, regulators in North America and Europe are required to develop a catchment scale Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL-USA) estimate or a Programme of Measures (POM-EU) respectively to ensure resource use locations in rivers, lakes and/or near-shore waters comply with microbial standards. It is these legislative drivers: namely the United States Clean Water Act (USCWA) and European Union Water Framework Directive (EUWFD) which have produced immediate and increasing pressure for high quality science policy support and research within the science community focusing on environmental microbiology.