The Texas General Land Office monitors fecal bacteria levels along Texas coastal waterways through a program called Texas Beach Watch. Our KSAT Explains team went to Galveston to see the water sample collection and testing firsthand.
Water sample collection
- Done weekly March to mid-October; every other week during the off season and winter
- Roughly 100 milliliters (a little over 3 ounces) collected from each sample site
- Water sample must be collected from 2 feet below water’s surface to avoid floating debris
Testing
- Water samples are tested for enterococcus, or fecal bacteria
- Samples must arrive at a lab within six hours of being collected; must be processed within two hours
- Water samples are diluted with a buffered water
- A solution is mixed with the diluted water that allows any bacteria present in the water to metabolize the solution
- The mixture is incubated at 41.5 degrees Celsius (106.7 degrees Fahrenheit) for 24 hours
- After bacteria metabolizes the solution, a fluorescent chemical compound is released allowing lab technicians to see the result.
- The higher the concentration of bacteria, the more fluorescence
Now what?
Test results are reported to the Texas General Land office and posted online at www.TexasBeachWatch.com.
The site reports bacteria levels and any advisories color-coded green, yellow or red.
Red signals an advisory, which means bacteria levels at that location are higher than the 104 cfu/100ml, a limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
An advisory notice is also posted on the beach itself, though it does not prompt the state to close a beach.
“If it has hair, fur, or feathers in essence, that animals contributing to fecal loading in the environment,” said Jason Pinchback, Water Resources Manager for the Texas General Land Office.
According to the GLO, animals are the biggest contributors of fecal bacteria in the water.
“The majority of the sampling has resulted in identifying seagulls and canine as the most significant culprits, followed up by smaller amounts from humans,” Pinchback said.
Texas Beach Watch tests water samples from beaches all along the Coastal Zone of Texas, which an area stretching 18 counties from Jefferson County to Cameron County that spans about 14,000 square miles.
The Coastal Zone includes any land close enough to the coast to impact water quality.
“If it goes on the ground, it flows down,” Pinchback said.
But we can’t blame only animals for the nasty problem.
There are around 250 wastewater treatment plants in the Coastal Zone plus 50,000 septic systems.
And sometimes things break.
“There are failures in the system that could be happening,” Pinchback said. “Usually when those are identified, those are fixed very quickly.”
Pinchback said it is rare to have multiple sampling sites along the same beach to have advisories at the same time.
“There’s a lot of beach. We’re 25, 26 miles long,” said Jason Burns, who collects water samples in Galveston as an environmental tech with Texas Beach Watch. “So, just because there’s a high sample on the seawall doesn’t mean the West End has high samples or vice versa.”
GLO officials say fecal bacteria levels seem to be highest in March, June and September but they don’t know why.
They do know that levels tend to spike after heavy rain washes what’s on the ground into the water.
The health impact
Back in San Antonio, we went to University Hospital to ask an epidemiologist about how exposure to fecal bacteria in the water can impact your health.
“The most common infections people are going to run into is from ingesting the water,” said Dr. Jason Bowling of University Health. “Even if you aren’t aware of drinking, the water can get into your mouth and you can have most commonly gastrointestinal intestinal illnesses like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.”
There is a higher concern for people who are immunocompromised, pregnant, or people with a cut or open wound, even a new piercing.
“If you do go in the water, make sure you cover it with a waterproof bandage to keep yourself protected there,” Bowling said.
“The other thing you can do is make sure you wash your hands before you eat,” he added. “A lot of times we go on the ocean water and then we eat food. But if you wash your hands afterwards or use alcohol-based hand rub to keep your hands clean before you eat, that’s another way to try and reduce your risk.”
There are some things we can all do to try to keep this bacteria out of the water in the first place.
Pick up pet waste and pick up after yourself, too.
“What do seagulls love on the beach? They love your food, and they love to come and mess with your picnic,” Pinchback said. “And so, keeping your food away from the seagulls, not feeding the seagulls, will help to not concentrate their dispersal of bacteria on the beach itself as well.”
“Each one of us plays a role and we have some level of responsibility,” he said.
