Bathing water quality analysis, management and policy: an integrated assessment for Ireland

Every bathing season in Ireland several bathing sites are closing and receiving warnings against bathing. In this report, their water quality status is assessed, and the broader picture of each case is investigated. A database is formed including location-maps, the restrictions they were/are subject to, the official justification, past and current annual water quality status, (sub)catchment where they are located, main water bodies flowing in, the closest WasteWater Treatment Plants with their characteristics and performance based on EU treatment standards, the closest meteorological stations and the rainfall data related with stormwater overflow events (correlation analyses) and the surrounding land cover. For each case, possible causes were discussed; the actions so far and the relevant literature are analyzed to provide key policy recommendations which are useful for the review of the European Bathing Water Directive.

A Detention Reservoir Reduced Combined Sewer Overflows and Bathing Water Contamination Due to Intense Rainfall

Combined sewer overflows (CSOs) close to water bodies are a cause of grave environmental concern. In the past few decades, major storm events have become increasingly common in some regions, and the meteorological scenarios predict a further increase in their frequency. Consequently, CSO control and treatment according to best practices, the adoption of innovative treatment solutions and careful sewer system management are urgently needed. A growing number of publications has been addressing the quality, quantity and types of available water management and treatment options. In this study, we describe the construction of an innovative detention reservoir along the Arzilla River (Fano, Italy) whose function is to store diluted CSO wastewater exceeding the capacity of a combined drain system. River water sampling and testing for microbial contamination downstream of the tank after a heavy rain event found a considerable reduction of fecal coliform concentrations, which would have compounded the impact of stormwater on the bathing site. These preliminary results suggest that the detention tank exerted beneficial environmental effects on bathing water by lowering the microbial load.

BATHING WATER QUALITY IN DOBRICH REGION ON THE NORTHEAST BLACK SEA COAST

The quality of bathing water in Europe has remained high for decades. Bathing sites meet the highest and strictest "excellent" quality standards of the European Union. Aim and task: to make a comparative characteristic of the quality of bathing water in Dobrich region in the Northern Black Sea coastal region for 2018-2013 and 20142018. Materials: Seawater samples 880 pieces(2008-2013) pieces+740 pieces (2014-2018), in sterile glass bottles of 300-500 ml, sampled by RHI Dobrich, results of microbiological studies of seawater, reports, analyzes. Methods: documentary, laboratory, statistical, graphic. Results: The comparative analysis of the quality of bathing waters in two periods of 6 years (2008 - 2013) and 5 years (2014-2018) in the Northeast Black Sea coastal region of Dobrich District is based on the studied 20 sampling points. For 2008 - In 2013, non-standard seawater samples were detected by an average of 17.04%, with the highest relative share of 32.4% in 2011 and 31.69% in 2009, after which it dropped sharply to 0.70% in 2012 and 4.92% in 2013. The analysis of bathing water in the period 2014-2018 shows that in 75% of the points they have "excellent" assessment and 25% in "good". Conclusions: 1. There is no health risk of pollution of sea water used for bathing in the summer season 20082013.2. Deviations with non-standard samples and repeatability during the two periods (2008 - 2013 and 20142018) are in two points - Bozhurets and Krapets-North.3.At the checkpoint Fish-Fish and Rusalka the bathing waters have improved the indicator from “good” to “Excellent”.

Environmental and anthropogenic factors affecting coastal bathing water quality

Coastal bathing water, as a common good, is an economic resource of public health interest. Predictive models of coastal bathing water contamination are needed for timely prevention of pollution, warning of bathers, and activation of municipal services and utilities in case of contingencies, as well as institutional mechanism designs for common good management purposes. The goal of this research is to identify the variables that would improve predictive models of coastal bathing water bacterial contamination. The microbiological quality of coastal bathing water is affected by many variables. This research is an analysis of the following determinants: precipitation amount, seawater temperature and salinity, as well as few indicators of anthropogenic pressure on the environment such as registered population, registered tourist overnight stays and the amount of generated municipal waste, all possibly directly or indirectly affecting the bathing water quality in 17 coastal municipalities in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. The analysis showed that rainfall, as an instrumental confounder variable, influences salinity and seawater temperature by increasing groundwater discharge and bringing contamination i.e. increasing enterococci and Escherichia coli concentrations in coastal bathing water. Population as the conjectured independent variable, representing the anthropogenic cause of pollution, was once again falsified as a statistically significant determinant. For further research, longer-term sampling (preferably year-round) at micro-locations of comparable hydrogeological characteristics is recommended.

Staphylococcus aureus—An Additional Parameter of Bathing Water Quality for Crowded Urban Beaches

During the last years, the report of the occurrence of waterborne disease symptoms related to non-enteric pathogens has increased, without any record of higher levels of indicator bacteria (Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci). Therefore, the use of current indicators is not always adequate when assessing the overall potential health risk and the inclusion of additional parameters needs to be examined. This paper reports on the incidence and levels of Staphylococcus aureus at 258 locations in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County (Croatia) recorded by official bathing water quality monitoring, as well as supplemental monitoring carried out at the two most frequented beaches in the City of Rijeka. The number of bathers was found to be the main factor affecting S. aureus levels (r = 0.321, p < 0.05). The share of S. aureus positive samples from the official monitoring was significantly lower, when compared to the share of samples from supplemental monitoring (2.2% and 36.3%, respectively; p < 0.01). Besides the number of bathers, one of the main reasons is likely the higher sampling frequency. No correlation was found between S. aureus levels and the indicator bacteria. The results indicate that the determination of S. aureus and increased sampling frequency is recommended for overcrowded beaches.

Ecological Aesthetics of Intimate Otherness in Swedish Trans Cinema

This article is an exploration of trans and non-binary representation in independent Swedish film productions. Two award-winning films, Pojktanten (She Male Snails, 2012) and Nånting måste gå sönder (Something Must Break, 2014), created by director Ester Martin Bergsmark (in collaboration with author Eli Levén), will be in focus and discussed through their ecological aesthetics that build on what I call intimate otherness. The two films represent not only a significant debut moment for Swedish trans cinema, but also offer a radical engagement with nature and the unnatural. While Bergsmark’s films incite a vivid aestheticisation of environmental pollution, ranging from items of garbage in the forest to untidyrooms, unwashed clothes, and dirty bathing water, the films’ ecological aesthetics, as I argue, imagine an enchanted space in which the trans body emerges as livable. Historically reduced to an “unnatural” and “contaminated” embodiment, trans bodies in the films form an intimate otherness with non-human objects and landscapes at the urban peripheries, at the margins of normativity and productivity. The films’ ecological aesthetics shift gender non-conformity from “unnatural” into a possibility. These aesthetics, I suggest, unfold into a gender-dissident´ landscape of rebellious and poetic, intimate otherness.