Recreational water quality criteria and its effectiveness at protecting human health: A review of state and federal standards

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2015-11

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ABSTRACT Pillow, Lauren. Degree of Master of Environmental Assessment. Recreational Water Quality Criteria and its Effectiveness at Protecting Human Health: A Review of State and Federal Standards. In order to protect recreational water quality and human health within the United States, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed and established Recreational Water Quality Criteria to be used as a guidance from which individual states could adopt their own Water Quality Standards. The purpose of this review is to determine the federal criteria and state specific standards’ effectiveness at protecting human health. The states of interest that are addressed are California, Colorado, North Carolina, and Virginia. The federal criteria and individual state standards are reviewed individually and then compared to human health data concerning waterborne illnesses resulting from contact with recreational waterbodies. The trends in human health data are then examined and determinations made as to the overall effectiveness of both state and federal standards.

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recreational water qualitly, human health, federal water quality standards

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