Fecal contamination of water impacts many regions of the U.S. and may carry risks to human health. When a water body fails to meet water quality standards for fecal bacteria, the Federal Clean Water Act requires a Total Maximum Daily Load analysis to establish how many bacteria are in the water, the sources of bacteria and whether the contamination varies seasonally. If all the point sources of contamination are acknowledged and there is still a bacterial problem, it may be time to try additional source identification tools, such as Bacterial Source Tracking.

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Status and Revision History
- Published with Minor Revisions on July 22, 2024
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