Fecal Bacteria

Bacteria come in many shapes and sizes. Many types of bacteria are helpful. Other types of bacteria can make people sick. The BEACH Program uses enterococcus bacteria (a type of fecal bacteria) to help identify beaches that might have the kinds of bacteria and viruses that make people sick (pathogens).

When testing swimming beaches for contamination, the variety and often low concentrations of pathogens makes them difficult and costly to test for individually. Health authorities therefore use the presence of other more abundant and more easily detected fecal bacteria as indicators of the presence of fecal contamination (poop).

The Environmental Protection Agency has established water quality standards for enterococcus to protect the use of swimming and other forms of recreation in marine salt waters. It's important to remember that swimming in untreated waters increases the risk of coming in contact with bacteria that might make you sick. Remember to wash your hands and body after swimming!

In addition to EPA’s enterococcus criteria, the Washington State Department of Ecology uses fecal coliform bacteria as an indicator to protect both shellfish and recreational water users. You can learn more about the State of Washington’s surface water quality standards here.