WRRC/芒鈧淚ke Wai Seminar

April 2, 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Keller Hall, Room 103

Challenges in Evaluating Microbial Beach Water Quality in Hawai芒鈧渋

by Dr. Marek Kirs

In an effort to improve current water quality monitoring programs, the Water Resources Research Center has been engaged in multiple research projects pertaining to microbial water quality indicators, specifically in a tropical environment. This presentation will summarize the results of selected projects from 2013 to 2019. The projects addresses two major issues hampering the application of the EPA recommended Recreational Water Quality Criteria in Hawai芒鈧渋: (1) the growth of the current microbial water quality indicators in extra-enteric environments (i.e., soils and vegetation), and (2) the lack of information on contamination sources when the microbial water quality indicators are detected. My presentation will focus on the following, as it applies to Hawai芒鈧渋: (1) our current efforts to determine the health risk associated with current and alternative microbial water quality indicator levels, (2) the evaluation and application of molecular microbial source tracking (MST) methods, (3) the evaluation and application of rapid EPA method 1609 and 1611 for beach notification purposes, (4) utilization of a portable multi-use automated concentration system (PMACS) for the MST in our coastal environments, and (5) the hidden bacterial diversity in our groundwater.


Event Sponsor
WRRC, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Niels Grobbe, (808) 956-5857, ngrobbe@hawaii.edu

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