Released June 17, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Millions of people visit Ohio's beaches each summer. And while water testing is routine, traditional tests usually take 24 hours to complete, making it impossible for today's beach-goers to know if the beaches they are visiting are safe.

Now, Ohio State University researchers are conducting studies at seven of Ohio's inland beaches to see if a real-time method of water testing can be just as accurate as the traditional method, as well as determine if poor water quality can be directly linked to people's health after visiting the beach.

"Water flows quickly -- within 24 hours, the water quality can be changed totally," said Jiyoung Lee, assistant professor of environmental microbiology who holds a joint appointment in Department of Food Science and Technology in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and the Division of Environmental Sciences in the College of Public Health.

"If there's a high level of bacteria in the water today, a sign will go up tomorrow, but it might as well say 'Yesterday's water was unsafe,' because we don't really know what the water quality is today."

The current study is funded by a $343,000 grant from the Ohio Water Development Authority. Lee is conducting the study with principal investigator Tim Buckley, associate professor and chair of the Division of Environmental Health Sciences in the College of Public Health. Buckley's doctoral student Jason Marion is leading the study's day-to-day operations.

The research team is taking weekly samples from beaches at state parks of Deer Creek, Madison Lake, Buck Creek, Alum Creek, Delaware, Lake Logan and East Fork. They are testing the water using the traditional membrane filtration method for the presence of E. coli, conventionally used as an indication of fecal matter in water. In addition, they are also taking measurements of chlorophyll A, phosphorus, turbidity, algae concentration, pH, dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, temperature, and other water quality data. The latter measurements, which can be assessed rapidly, will be compared with the traditional tests to see if the latter can be used for a real-time assessment of water quality and possibly generate a model that can predict future water quality.

"If the measurements correlate well with each other, we may find that we don't have to measure for E. coli any more to assess water quality," said Lee, who also holds an appointment with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. "Not only are the other measurements relatively quick and easy, they're also much cheaper. And, we could get that kind of data remotely, so we wouldn't have to send workers to the actual location to assess water quality."

As part of the study, researchers are also conducting surveys of visitors at East Fork State Park, inquiring about how often they visit the beach, how much they get into the water, and if they have experienced any signs of illness, including gastro-intestinal distress. After 12 to 14 days, researchers are contacting participants by phone, again asking about their health status. The idea is to determine if there's a relationship between visiting beaches during times when water quality is low and illness soon afterwards.

In yet another aspect of the study, Lee is investigating whether measurements of E. coli actually are good indicators of fecal matter in water. The researchers are testing the water for the presence of Bacteroides, a different type of bacteria originating from human gastrointestinal tracts, which may serve as a better indicator of fecal pollution.

The water testing will continue through October, and research will continue through December 2010. In addition, Lee is saving frozen samples from each collection that she hopes to use in future studies to develop a new molecular technology-based rapid method of measuring fecal pollution and pathogen markers, which may provide an integrative measurement of health hazards from recreational water.

Jiyoung Lee's position is funded by Ohio State University's initiative in Public Health Preparedness for Infectious Diseases (PHPID), a collaborative effort among more than 125 faculty across six colleges at Ohio State, focused emerging infectious disease threats and how we can better respond. Marion received the 2008-09 PHPID Graduate Fellowship for this project. The primary areas of activity in the initiative include translating scientific discoveries into real-world applications, detecting emerging infectious diseases, preventing human infection from animals, addressing food safety issues, and training professionals to lead the next generation.

To see a video podcast of Jason Marion collecting water samples for this study, see the College of Public Health's Web site, http://cph.osu.edu/news/podcasts/beachswim.cfm.

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http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~news/story.php?id=5220

Source: Jiyoung Lee, (614) 292-5546, jlee@cph.osu.edu

Writer: Martha Filipic, (614) 292-9833, filipic.3@cfaes.osu.edu