title: Comparing different methods for fast screening of microbiological quality of beach sand aimed at rapid-response remediation.
abstract: There is scientific evidence that beach sands are a significant contributor to the pathogen load to which visitors are exposed. To develop beach quality guidelines all beach zones must be included in microbiological evaluations, but monitoring methods for beach sand quality are relatively longstanding, expensive, laborious and require moderate laboratory infrastructure. This paper aimed to evaluate the microorganism activity in different beach zones applying and comparing a classical method of membrane filtration (MF) with two colorimetric screening methods based on fluorescein (FDA) and tetrazolium (TTC) salt biotransformation to evaluate a new rapid and low-cost method for beach sand microbiological contamination assessments. The colorimetric results can help beach managers to evaluate rapidly and at low cost the microbiological quality of different beach zones in order to decide whether remedial actions need to be adopted to prevent exposure of the public to microbes due to beach sand and/or water contamination.
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Laboratório de Remediação Ambiental, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC 88302-202, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renan C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Testolin
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Laboratório de Ecologia de Comunidades, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC 88302-202, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tito C M
authors.initials: TCM
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Laboratório de Conservação, Gestão e Governança Costeira, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC 88302-202, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Polette
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Laboratório de Ecologia de Comunidades e Biodiversidade, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC 88302-202, Brazil.
authors.forename: Joaquim O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Branco
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Laboratório de Remediação Ambiental, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC 88302-202, Brazil.
authors.forename: Larissa L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Laboratório de Remediação Ambiental, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC 88302-202, Brazil.
authors.forename: Guilherme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Niero
authors.affiliation: Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina, Curso Técnico de Saneamento, Av. Mauro Ramos, 950, Florianópolis, SC, 88020-300, Brazil.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Poyer-Radetski
authors.affiliation: Instituto Federal de Santa Catarina, Curso Técnico de Saneamento, Av. Mauro Ramos, 950, Florianópolis, SC, 88020-300, Brazil.
authors.forename: Valéria C
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Instituto Federal Catarinense, Laboratório de Microbiologia, Rodovia BR 280, km 27, Araquari, SC 89245-000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cleder A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Somensi
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Laboratório de Remediação Ambiental, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC 88302-202, Brazil.
authors.forename: Albertina X R
authors.initials: AXR
authors.lastname: Corrêa
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Laboratório de Remediação Ambiental, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC 88302-202, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rogério
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Corrêa
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Laboratório de Ficologia, Campus Trindade, Florianópolis, SC 88040-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leonardo R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Rörig
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Laboratório de Ficologia, Campus Trindade, Florianópolis, SC 88040-970, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Gabriela
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Itokazu
authors.affiliation: Université de Lorraine, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux (LIEC), CNRS UMR, 7360, Rue du General Delestraint, Metz F-57070, France.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Férard
authors.affiliation: Université de Lorraine, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire des Environnements Continentaux (LIEC), CNRS UMR, 7360, Rue du General Delestraint, Metz F-57070, France.
authors.forename: Sylvie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cotelle
authors.affiliation: Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Laboratório de Remediação Ambiental, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC 88302-202, Brazil. Electronic address: radetski@univali.br.
authors.forename: Claudemir M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Radetski
mesh_terms: D001493:Bathing Beaches / Q000592:standards*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000032:analysis*; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D012822:Silicon Dioxide
keywords: Beach sand quality; Colorimetric method; Fluorescein; Microbiological sand contamination; Tetrazolium salt