LANSING (WKZO) — Michigan will be the first state to monitor beaches using a new rapid test technology that they are adapting for water quality. It can identify E.coli DNA in a water sample in a couple of hours instead of having to wait 24-hours for a culture to grow.
The Kalamazoo County Health Department will be working with health departments along the Lake Michigan Shore and neighboring counties with inland lakes to get the test results out faster.
Kalamazoo’s lab will be one of 11 central labs set up around the state to do the testing.
The advantage is obvious; it could prevent swimmers from taking a dip in a pool of bacteria that much sooner, and let them know sooner when it’s safe to go back in.
Right now as it stands, there could be a beach full of families enjoying a summer day being exposed to higher than recommended levels of E.coli and not find out about it until the next day, when its too late.
The use of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (or QPCR) testing has already been applied to other medical applications where speed can help a diagnosis. The State Department of Environmental Quality is putting up half a million dollars to apply it to beach testing, which should give a boost to the state’s white sandy beaches, making them even more attractive to tourists.
Tourists can be assured that the beaches are not only shark-free, but the water is clean.
The system will be getting a try-out this year, and if the test results from the QPCR method stand up against the traditional testing, it will become the standard in Michigan.
Shannon Briggs at the D.E.Q. says one other advantage of this new testing method is they will be able to not only detect the bacteria, but be able to identify it and then conceivably trace it back to its source.
Knowing the source can help them eliminate the problem, whether it’s just flocks of geese using the beach for a bathroom, a leaky septic system or some other issue.
