Disease-causing organisms can only be found in bodies of water if the disease is prevalent in the human population. Basically then, it does not make a lot of sense to
look specifically for dangerous pathogenic agents in bodies of water if one is looking
for a yard stick for water quality measurement. For this reason the amount of Escherichia coli, is monitored. Escherichia coli is under normal circumstances a non-pathogenic bacterium living in the intestine of man and of warm-blooded animals, occurring in the feces and therefore used as an index organism, along with some other fecal
microorganisms. According to different methods of detection, strictly fecal coliform
germs are distinguished from more numerous total coliform germs, and both numbers
are used to monitor sewage pollution and to asses health risks from drinking water,
from food stuff, and from bathing.
Escherichia coli is always present in excrement and fecal effluents. Naturally, the
presence of Escherichia coli in a body of water does not indicate anything beyond
the fact that fecal effluents are present in a diluted form.
Civil health authorities in many countries of the world consider a ban on swimming if
concentrations of Escherichia coli higher than 100-1000 per 100 ml are found in
freshwater. Health authorities permit more leeway with regard to the bacteria-killing
effect of seawater in coastal areas. In Great Britain in particular, there are adherents
of the view that the problem does not need to be worried about seriously because the
danger of infection is almost nonexistent (Moore 1975) and a vacationer swallows
scarcely more than 10 ml of water per day when swimming.
Other researchers believe they have proven the connection between various infections
and swimming in polluted seawater, especially in the Mediterranean. Where the borderline of a presumably dangerous health hazard lies is open to question (Regnier and
Park 1972).
The swimming facilities on the Weser River just outside Bremerhaven, Germany, were
not rebuilt after their destruction by seastorm in 1962 because levels of up to 52,000
Escherichia coli per 100 ml were found to be present there. Conditions have worsened
since then: from 1964 to 1968, only a few tests showed less than 10,000 Escherichia
coli per 100 ml; in 1969 and later, some tests showed over 100,000 Escherichia coli
per 100 ml.
It is not hard to appreciate the fact that the situation has worsened. More and more
people flock to resort areas and camping grounds at beaches, and sewage treatment
plants there have only been built in the last few years. Cities like Bremen and Bremerhaven have expanded their sewage systems considerably in recent decades and have
thereby attached more and more households to the main drainage channel of the
Weser (Fig. 9). The mandatory treatment plants are only now following this development (Table 4). Let us hope that construction of sewage treatment plants will eliminate the problem and the Escherichia coli figures will reduce again.
A detailed investigation of the German part of the Baltic Sea coast in the area of Kiel
Bay between Flensburg and Fehmarn showed heavy sewage pollution in certain areas
in the vicinity of coastal cities. That 13% of all samples also contained Salmonella
seemed serious. The Escherichia coli counts in all swimming areas were, to be sure,
within the norms required by the German government. But the results of a 1974
study by the Institute for Hygiene of the University of Kiel indicated that only twothirds of all the resort areas satisfied the more recent higher requirements as well.
15
look specifically for dangerous pathogenic agents in bodies of water if one is looking
for a yard stick for water quality measurement. For this reason the amount of Escherichia coli, is monitored. Escherichia coli is under normal circumstances a non-pathogenic bacterium living in the intestine of man and of warm-blooded animals, occurring in the feces and therefore used as an index organism, along with some other fecal
microorganisms. According to different methods of detection, strictly fecal coliform
germs are distinguished from more numerous total coliform germs, and both numbers
are used to monitor sewage pollution and to asses health risks from drinking water,
from food stuff, and from bathing.
Escherichia coli is always present in excrement and fecal effluents. Naturally, the
presence of Escherichia coli in a body of water does not indicate anything beyond
the fact that fecal effluents are present in a diluted form.
Civil health authorities in many countries of the world consider a ban on swimming if
concentrations of Escherichia coli higher than 100-1000 per 100 ml are found in
freshwater. Health authorities permit more leeway with regard to the bacteria-killing
effect of seawater in coastal areas. In Great Britain in particular, there are adherents
of the view that the problem does not need to be worried about seriously because the
danger of infection is almost nonexistent (Moore 1975) and a vacationer swallows
scarcely more than 10 ml of water per day when swimming.
Other researchers believe they have proven the connection between various infections
and swimming in polluted seawater, especially in the Mediterranean. Where the borderline of a presumably dangerous health hazard lies is open to question (Regnier and
Park 1972).
The swimming facilities on the Weser River just outside Bremerhaven, Germany, were
not rebuilt after their destruction by seastorm in 1962 because levels of up to 52,000
Escherichia coli per 100 ml were found to be present there. Conditions have worsened
since then: from 1964 to 1968, only a few tests showed less than 10,000 Escherichia
coli per 100 ml; in 1969 and later, some tests showed over 100,000 Escherichia coli
per 100 ml.
It is not hard to appreciate the fact that the situation has worsened. More and more
people flock to resort areas and camping grounds at beaches, and sewage treatment
plants there have only been built in the last few years. Cities like Bremen and Bremerhaven have expanded their sewage systems considerably in recent decades and have
thereby attached more and more households to the main drainage channel of the
Weser (Fig. 9). The mandatory treatment plants are only now following this development (Table 4). Let us hope that construction of sewage treatment plants will eliminate the problem and the Escherichia coli figures will reduce again.
A detailed investigation of the German part of the Baltic Sea coast in the area of Kiel
Bay between Flensburg and Fehmarn showed heavy sewage pollution in certain areas
in the vicinity of coastal cities. That 13% of all samples also contained Salmonella
seemed serious. The Escherichia coli counts in all swimming areas were, to be sure,
within the norms required by the German government. But the results of a 1974
study by the Institute for Hygiene of the University of Kiel indicated that only twothirds of all the resort areas satisfied the more recent higher requirements as well.
15