Nothing ruins a day at the lake like E. coli. At elevated levels, the bacteria — which is prevalent in the guts and feces of both humans and animals — can make people sick, forcing beach managers to post advisories or close beaches entirely. And while current testing methods provide an accurate snapshot of E. coli levels in beach water, the results aren’t always timely.
“There’s a 24-hour lag before you get those results,” said Ryan Newton, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences who studies microbes in aquatic environments. “It’s not ideal because you have to wait 24 hours to close a beach or take some sort of action. And at that point, the conditions may not be the same as what they were when you took the sample.”
That delay in getting results can mean people are swimming in unsafe waters or, alternatively, a beach is needlessly closed, which can have negative economic consequences.
That’s where Newton’s research comes in. With funding from Wisconsin Sea Grant, he and his team are developing a faster way to test for E. coli and identify its source so beach managers can make quick, informed decisions about the safety of their beaches and identify ways to prevent future pollution.