Recreational water quality criteria and its effectiveness at protecting human health: A review of state and federal standards
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Date
2015-11
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Abstract
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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Keywords
recreational water qualitly, human health, federal water quality standards