A Scientific Basis for Determining Recreational Water Quality Criteria

The development and application of a scientific methodology to evaluate risk to water recreationists as a function of each independent environmental factor is described. Specifically, the incorporation of all relevant published data into the methodology using the factor Salmonella as an example is illustrated. That is, the study correlates all known published: dose-response data for Salmonella; measurements of Salmonella in water; and estimates of risk of illness as a function of Salmonella in water. The result is a curve of the quantitative risk to the recreationist as a function of the two Salmonella subfactor (S. typhosa and S. other) criteria.