IV-360 



Some of the factors affecting the survival of pathogenic organisms 

 are: 



(1) Environmental conditions such as salinity, temperature, 

 amount of sunlight, and degree of dilution. 



(2) Biological agents antagonistic to the survival of 

 the waste borne organisms. 



(3) Bacteriophages or viruses. 



(4) Protozoan and other lower animals which consume 

 pathogens for survival. 



(5) Sedimentation and adsorption of pathogens with and 

 by particulate matter in the receiving water. 



(6) The amount of nutrient material available to support 

 or stimulate multiplication of the organisms. 



The presence of the col i form organisms, especial 1 >■ the fecal col i form, 

 is an index to the degree of public health hazard. The two main 

 avenues of exposure for humans in the estuarine environment are through 

 body contact during recreation and through ingestion of contaminated 

 food harvested from the estuary. In the former, the problem becomes 

 one of balancing reasonable safeguards for public health and well- 

 being against undue restrictions on the availability of waters for 

 contact recreation. In estuarine recreation water, this problem is 

 complicated by the lack of definitive epidemiological studies corre- 

 lating the incidence of waterborne disease with degrees of bacterial 

 pollution. To develop rational bacterial standards for contact 



