Bacteria Regulations

Drinking water:

Fecal coliform bacteria and other microorganisms must be completely removed from drinking water.  This includes strict guidelines for the removal of Cryptosporidium (99% removal) and Giardia lamblia (99.99% removal).

Recreational water:

The  EPA establishes water-quality criteria on the basis of full-body contact and single-sample allowable density for water bodies defined as moderately used, lightly used, and infrequently used. Primary contact use is defined as activities where the body is immersed in water to the extent that some inadvertent ingestion of the water is probable. These activities include boating, mussel harvesting, swimming, and water skiing. The EPA currently has no recommended criteria for secondary contact; however, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment has set maximums for both primary and second­ary contact recreation in public-access streams for the State of Kansas. Secondary contact activities include wading, fishing, trapping, and hunting where the ingestion of water is not prob­able.

 

 

 

Indicator bacteria type

 

 

Illness rate (per 1,000 swimmers)

Primary contact recreation

Single-sample maximum allowable density (col/100mL)

Moderately used full-body contact

Lightly used full-body contact

Infrequently used full-body contact

Escherichia coli (E. coli)

8

298

406

576

9

381

524

736

10

487

669

941

11

622

855

1,202

12

795

1,092

1,536

13

1,016

1,396

1,962
 

 

14

1,298

1,783

2,507

Information can be found at the EPA’s microbial water quality criteria page.