OS23A-01
Regional Public Health Cost Estimates of Contaminated Coastal Waters: A Case Study of Gastroenteritis at Southern California Beaches
We present estimates of annual public health impacts, both illnesses and cost of illness,attributable to excess gastrointestinal illnesses caused by swimming in contaminated coastal waters at beaches in southern California, USA. Beach-specific enterococci densities are used as inputs to two epidemiological dose-response models to predict the risk of gastrointestinal illness at 28 beaches spanning 160 km of coastline in Los Angeles and Orange Counties. We use attendance data along with the health cost of gastrointestinal illness to estimate the number of illnesses among swimmers . We estimate that between 627,800 and 1,479,200 excess gastrointestinal illnesses occur at beaches in Los Angeles and Orange Counties each year. Using a conservative health cost of gastroenteritis, this corresponds to an annual economic loss of $21 or $51 million depending upon the underlying epidemiological model used (in year 2000 dollars). Results demonstrate that improving coastal water quality could result in a reduction of gastrointestinal illnesses locally and a concurrent savings in expenditures on related health care costs.
OS23A-02
MODIS imagery as a tool for water quality assessments in southern California coastal ocean
Stormwater plumes are main source of coastal pollution in southern California coastal waters. The data on surface salinity, concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS), colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and bacterial counts collected during the Bight'03 Regional Water Quality Program surveys in February 2004 and February-March 2005 were compared to MODIS-Aqua satellite imagery. The spectra of normalized water-leaving radiation (nLw) were different in plumes and in ambient ocean waters, enabling plumes discrimination and plume area size assessments from remotely-sensed data. The plume/ocean nLw differences (i.e., plume optical signatures) were most evident during first days after the rainstorm and less evident in the area where TSS concentration in discharged water was lower than in other regions. The accuracy of plume area assessments from satellite imagery was not high (77% on average), seemingly because of inexactitude in satellite data processing. In particular, the expected correlation between remotely-sensed CDOM absorption estimated by Lee's quasi-analytical algorithm (QAA) and CDOM concentrations in water column was often obscured by external factors including wind-driven sea state and phytoplankton blooms. Nevertheless, satellite imagery is a useful tool for estimation of the extension of polluted plumes, which is hardly achievable by contact methods.
OS23A-03
The University of Miami Center for Oceans and Human Health
Two recent major reports on the health of the oceans in the United States have warned that coastal development and population pressures are responsible for the dramatic degradation of U.S. ocean and coastal environments. The significant consequences of this increased population density, particularly in sub/tropical coastal regions, can be seen in recent weather events: Hurricanes Andrew, Ivan, and Katrina in the US Gulf of Mexico states, and the Tsunami in Southeast Asia in December 2004, all causing significant deaths and destruction. Microbial contamination, man-made chemicals, and a variety of harmful algal blooms and their toxins are increasingly affecting the health of coastal human populations via the seafood supply, as well as the commercial and recreational use of coastal marine waters. At the same time, there has been the realization that the oceans are a source of unexplored biological diversity able to provide medicinal, as well as nutritional, benefits. Therefore, the exploration and preservation of the earth's oceans have significant worldwide public health implications for current and future generations. The NSF/NIEHS Center for Oceans and Human Health Center (COHH) at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School and its collaborators builds on several decades of collaborative and interdisciplinary research, education, and training to address the NIEHS-NSF research initiative in Oceans and Human Health. The COHH focuses on issues relevant to the Southeastern US and Caribbean, as well as global Sub/Tropical areas worldwide, to integrate interdisciplinary research between biomedical and oceanographic scientists. The Center includes three Research Projects: (1) research into the application of toxic algal culture, toxin analysis, remote sensing, oceanography, and genomics to subtropical/tropical Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) organism and toxin distribution; (2) exploring the interaction between functional genomics and oceanography of the subtropical/tropical HAB organism, Karenia brevis, and its environmental interactions; and (3) exploring the relationship between microbial indicators and human health effects in sub/tropical recreational marine waters. There are three Facilities Cores supporting this research in Genomics, Remote Sensing, and Toxic Algal Culture. To accomplish this research program in subtropical/tropical oceans and human health, the University of Miami Oceans & Human Health Center collaborates with interdisciplinary scientists at Florida International University (FIU), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Miami Dade County Dept of Health, the University of Florida, and other institutions, as well as other Oceans and Human Health Centers and researchers.
OS23A-04
Satellite Remote Sensing of Harmful Algal Blooms at the University of Miami Center for Oceans and Human Health
As part of the NSF-NIEHS Center for Oceans and Human Health at the University of Miami, research is being conducted into the remote sensing of ocean color signatures associated with the occurrence of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). Data from the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are down-linked at the University of Miami's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS) and processed in near-real time to produce mapped fields of water leaving radiance in the ocean color bands, derived quantities including inherent optical properties (IOPs) of seawater, chlorophyll concentration, and sea-surface temperature. Images of these fields are available in near-real time on a web-server. The server also provides access to the data files themselves. One of the applications currently being researched using these data is the identification of HABs over the Central West Florida Shelf where blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate Karenia brevis have a nearly annual occurance. Since chlorophyll concentration alone cannot be used as a unique variable to determine algal taxonomy, other spectral features or optical properties must be brought into play to discriminate among different phytoplankton types. A published technique developed for SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) to detect K. brevis (based on high concentration of chlorophyll and low particulate backscatter) was transitioned to measurements of Terra MODIS and replicated the results. These were confirmed by comparisons with in situ measurements. This technique is currently being applied to a multi-year time series of remote measurements from the Aqua MODIS and tested against ship-based data.
OS23A-05
Application of a Human Fecal Marker Assay to Diverse Coastal Environments in California and Hawaii
Bacterial pollution at beaches is a growing problem of increasing national concern. Currently, the EPA uses Enterococcus as one measure of water quality for recreational contact. Recent work has suggested that rather than indicating anthropogenic pollution, enterococci may be indigenous to the environment. A human-specific gene marker for Enterococcus faecium (known as esp) was recently proposed as a molecular test for bacterial contamination of human origin. The present study applied the esp gene assay to a variety of coastal environments in California and Hawaii, including groundwater, sand, freshwater creeks, estuaries, and the surf zone. Results indicate that enterococci of human origin are present in many of these environments, suggesting that at least a portion of the bacterial pollution at these sites is a result of anthropogenic inputs rather than autochthonous microbial populations.