TABLE 2: BACTERIOLOGICAL WATER QUALITY FOR NEARSHORE STATIONS AT CEDROS BAY FROM BONASSE TO FULLERTON AND COMPLIANCE WITH REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS (23/04/14 – 03/06/14) Station No. Indicator Bacteria Range (CFU/100 ml of sample) Mean Compliance with Standards and Guidelines (1976) (1986) CBFC (2003) DCRS (2010) 1 Faecal Coliform 0 - 117 27 Yes Escherichia coli 0 - 99 8 Yes Enterococci 0 – 90 10 Yes Yes Yes 2 Faecal Coliform 0 – 210 18 Yes Escherichia coli 0 - 54 9 Yes Enterococci 0 – 54 5 Yes Yes Yes 3 Faecal Coliform 0 - 210 28 Yes Escherichia coli 0 - 63 13 Yes Enterococci 0 – 27 3 Yes Yes Yes 4 Faecal Coliform 9 - 400 61 No (oa) Escherichia coli 0 - 63 14 Yes Enterococci 0 – 72 7 Yes Yes Yes 5 Faecal Coliform 45 – 1532 264 No Escherichia coli 9 – 631 76 No Enterococci 9 – 153 36 No No No 6 Faecal Coliform 162 – 2800 583 No Escherichia coli 27 – 1441 154 No Enterococci 0 – 340 9 Yes Yes Yes
TABLE2: BACTERIOLOGICAL WATER QUALITY FOR NEARSHORE STATIONS AT CEDROS BAY FROM BONASSE TO FULLERTON AND COMPLIANCE WITH REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS (23/04/14 – 03/06/14) - CONTINUED Station No. Indicator Bacteria Range (CFU/100 ml of sample) Mean Compliance with Standards and Guidelines (1976) (1986) CBFC (2003) DCRS (2010) 7 Faecal Coliform 45 – 2200 514 No Escherichia coli 18 – 2100 138 No Enterococci 0 – 135 18 Yes No Yes 8 Faecal Coliform 108 – 50000 2139 No Escherichia coli 27 – 36000 711 No Enterococci 0 – 3900 44 No No No 9 Faecal Coliform 740 – 5597 No Escherichia coli 200 – 2692 No Enterococci 72 – 14545 737 No No No 10 Faecal Coliform 670 – 14545 2411 No Escherichia coli 230 – 14545 1278 No Enterococci 260 - 811 483 No No No 11 Faecal Coliform 2500 – 10000 3856 No Escherichia coli 1441 - 3900 2192 No Enterococci 108 – 901 319 No No No 12 Faecal Coliform 600 – 5200 2653 No Escherichia coli 440 – 3600 1299 No Enterococci 18 – 721 187 No No No A A
2: BACTERIOLOGICAL WATER QUALITY FOR NEARSHORE STATIONS AT CEDROS BAY FROM BONASSE TO FULLERTON AND COMPLIANCE WITH REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS (23/04/14 – 03/06/14) – CONTINUED Station No. Indicator Bacteria Range (CFU/100 ml of sample) Mean Compliance with Standards and Guidelines (1976) (1986) CBFC (2003) DCRS (2010) 13 Faecal Coliform 27 – 3100 550 No Escherichia coli 18 - 2162 270 No Enterococci 9 – 162 63 No No No 14 Faecal Coliform 72 – 2900 653 No Escherichia coli 72 – 1802 388 No Enterococci 18 – 117 67 No No No 15 Faecal Coliform 330 – 2100 595 No Escherichia coli 99 – 631 200 No Enterococci 0 - 200 32 Yes No Yes USEPA – United States Environmental Protection Agency DCRS – Draft Caricom Regional Standard CBFC – Caribbean Blue Flag Criteria a – Standard was failed on the of one result. o – Indicates that the water quality passed only one of the two criteria. Both criteria must be passed to comply with the standard. A
4: IN SITU PHYSICOCHEMICAL MEASUREMENTS FOR NEARSHORE STATIONS AT CEDROS BAY FROM BONASSE TO FULLERTON (23/04/14 – 03/06/14) - CONTINUED Station No. Parameter Range Compliance with Standard CBFC (2003) DCRS (2010) 13 Temperature (o C) 27.7 – 29.1 Yes Salinity (‰) 32.37 – 35.78 Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L) 5.68 – 7.20 Yes pH 7.85 – 8.03 Yes Yes Conductivity (mS) 49.65 – 54.28 Turbidity (NTU) 12.4 – 151.67 No (2dys)* 14 Temperature (o C) 27.7 – 29.2 Yes Salinity (‰) 33.34 – 35.77 Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L) 6.11 – 6.95 Yes pH 7.83 – 8.03 Yes Yes Conductivity (mS) 49.59 – 54.33 Turbidity (NTU) 12.27 – 97.17 No (2 dys)* 15 Temperature (o C) 27.6 – 29.1 Yes Salinity (‰) 32.35 – 35.73 Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L) 6.42 – 7.09 Yes pH 7.68 – 8.03 Yes Yes Conductivity (mS) 49.61 – 54.25 Turbidity (NTU) 13.67 – 79.40 No (2 dys)* CBFC – Caribbean Blue Flag Criteria DCRS – Caricom Regional Standard ( )* - Number of sampling days on which the Standard was failed
TABLE 6: BACTERIOLOGICAL WATER QUALITY AT POTENTIAL SOURCES OF POLLUTION FOR CEDROS BAY FROM BONASSE TO FULLERTON AND COMPLIANCE WITH REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS (10/06/14 – 22/07/14) Station No. Indicator Bacteria Range (CFU/100 ml of sample) Geometric Mean Compliance with Standards and Guidelines (1976) (1986) CBFC (2003) DCRS (2010) 16 Faecal Coliform 390 - 7900000 6156 No Escherichia coli 240 - 200000 1565 No Enterococci 126 – 69000 662 No No No 17 Faecal Coliform 42000 – 2700000 167254 No Escherichia coli 31000 – 1600000 110534 No Enterococci 3600 – 18018 9060 No No No 18 Faecal Coliform 270 – 2800000 26669 No Escherichia coli 90 – 1000000 7428 No Enterococci 0 – 40 7 Yes Yes Yes 19 Faecal Coliform 40000 – 2700000 560218 No Escherichia coli – 2000000 195950 No Enterococci 2790 – 240000 20507 No No No 20 Faecal Coliform 1500000 - 7000000 3308250 No Escherichia coli 700000 – 5000000 1966389 No Enterococci 90909 - 1200000 349245 No No No 21 Faecal Coliform 9910 – 620000 45698 No Escherichia coli 1530 – 360000 13183 No Enterococci 650 – 4289 No No No
unlikely however, that the source of pollution for eastern Bonasse Beach in this instance was anthropogenic. This was because there was no outflow to the nearshore water during sample collection from a river and a drain, which were both identified as potential land based sources of pollution for eastern Bonasse Beach. The highest coliform bacteria levels in this instance were more apt to be because of very turbid water, ranging from 65 to 128.33 NTU on this day, at eastern Bonasse Beach. The estimated speed of the westerly flowing longshore current on this day was also generally the fastest recorded at eastern Bonasse Beach, ranging from 18 to 36 cm per second. Nearshore faecal coliform levels at Station 4 were also highest at 400 and 126 CFU/100 ml of sample when the water was most turbid at 128.33 and 124.67 NTU, respectively. Coelho et al. (1999) found that turbidity peaks in samples were accompanied by peaks in microbial contamination, while studying the dynamics of microbial contamination at a marine recreational site. Coliform bacteria are often more prevalent in turbid waters because they live in soil and can attach to sediment particles. There are theories which have associated Orinoco River discharge with sediment transport in the Gulf of Paria (Gay, 2001). Joint Amazon and Orinoco River plume waters extend thousands of kilometres into the Caribbean and western tropical north Atlantic (Müller-Karger et al., 1989; Johns et al., 1990). The Amazon and Orinoco plume is highly turbid and contains sediments and coloured dissolved organic matter (Hu et al., 2004; Del Vecchio and Subramaniam, 2004). Johns et al. (2014) used monthly Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) ocean colour composites between January and September 2009 to illustrate the dispersal of the Amazon and Orinoco River plumes. The January image showed a coastal river plume with a relatively high pigment concentration entering the Caribbean south of 12° N. Johns et al. (2014) indicated that this pattern was typical for this time of year and showed the impact of the mixture of Amazon and Orinoco River plume waters on the coasts of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, and the southernmost Lesser Antilles islands around Grenada.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (1976). Quality Criteria for Water. 501 pp. United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). (1986). Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Bacteria – 1986. EPA 440/5 – 84 -002. Office of Water Regulations and Standards, Criteria and Standards Division, Washington, DC 20460. 16 pp.