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Knowledge Area: Pathogens and Human Health

Our Objective

WERF's Waterborne Pathogens and Human Health Research Program has provided state-of-the-art methods, relevant and accurate data, and tools to evaluate potential human health risk from waterborne microbes. The results support wastewater and stormwater management decisions and inform the regulatory structure and implementation requirements being considered by the U.S. EPA for the 2012 ambient recreational water quality criteria. Key areas of research include rapid methods for monitoring pathogen indicators, risk assessment tools, source tracking microorganisms, and indicators in inland, tropical, and subtropical waters. View the program's research summary.

Latest News

Next Generation Tools for Assessing Death and Decay of Critical Wastewater Bacteria
This new WERF project will develop protocols using next generation biomolecular tools to measure death and decay kinetics of wastewater bacteria, pathogens, and pathogen indicators.
New Water Quality Criteria Are Here
WERF’s Recreational Water Quality Criteria Series covers the latest findings on pathogen sources, detection, and quantification.
WERF Looking for Volunteer Technical Reviewers for Wastewater Bacteria Project
The research proposes to develop protocols using next generation biomolecular tools to measure death and decay kinetics of wastewater bacteria, pathogens, and pathogen indicators.
WERF Research Contributes to U.S. EPA New Recreational Water Quality Criteria Recommendation
The U.S. EPA recommended new recreational water quality criteria for states.
Clean Water Act Celebrates 40 Years
My Clean Water Act will host several events over the next six months to celebrate and increase awareness about the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
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Products & Tools

WERF's Recreational Water Quality Criteria Series (Path-Bundle)
A Collection of research reports cited in U.S. EPA's recommendations for recreational water quality criteria, covers the latest findings on pathogen sources, detection, and quantification.
Workshop Report Prioritizes Research Needs for Criteria Development in Inland Waters (PATH4W09)
WERF teamed up with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to bring together 31 experts to examine differences between coastal and inland waters and identify research needs for the development of recreational water quality criteria applicable for inland water. This free report summarizes their discussion and findings.
WERF Blending Report: Effluent and Other Contributory Sources during Peak Weather Events (03-CTS-12PP)
This study evaluated the impacts of blending on effluent and receiving water quality and estimated public health risks associated with recreation in surface waters receiving blended flows.
Report: Pathogen Risk Indicators (03-HHE-2)
The detection and enumeration of all pathogens is not a viable task, creating a need to develop new indicators of their presence in waste matrices. This project set out to develop indicators to determine treatment efficacy rather than to detect the presence of fecal contamination.
WERF Fact Sheet on Molecular Methods for Pathogen Detection
This fact sheet provides information on WERF's research evaluation of newer molecular methods for detection of bacteria, viruses, and protozoa; including Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and other molecular biology-based techniques that have revolutionized the detection of pathogenic microorganisms in clinical and environmental samples.
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