Yep, nevermind the fear of contaminants in the ocean floating around you while you swim … what’s in the sand you walk, lie or play on?
No doubt, if you are an avid beach-goer, you may have already seen the No Swimming signs that have already popped up along coastlines this summer where fecal bacteria have invaded the inviting cool waters. Of course, some people ignore the signs and others stick to tanning and playing on the sandy shores. Are you safe on the sand though? New research in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology investigates reasons why the answer could be … “no, you aren’t.”
Sewage-contaminated coastal waters can lead to stomach aches, diarrhea and rashes if you accidentally swallow those nasty, harmful microbes. You can also be exposed to them by other means while you are in the water (open cuts, etc.). In the last 10 years, scientists have also found fecal bacteria in beach sand at levels 10 to 100 times higher than the nearby seawater. Tao Yan and colleagues wanted to find out why.
Researchers created microcosms of beach sand and seawater contaminated with sewage in the lab to see how the overall bacterial populations, including fecal dwellers responsible for causing illness, would change over time. It was determined that microbial communities tend to decay much slower in the simulated beach sand environment than in the water, which helps to explain why more fecal bacteria are found on sandy beaches subjected to wastewater pollution rather than in the waves.
Source: American Chemical Society (ACS)
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