By Jeff Marchesseault

GUAM - A technically non-fecal bacterium found both on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu and on Guam could, conceivably, have caused an unknown number of illnesses over many year in areas where it went unreported in Hawaii.

That according to a Honolulu environmental health reporter for the online news source Examiner.com. In his report, Guy Ragosta raises concerns about the effects of animal and human waste bacteria in tropical islands in the Pacific and throughout the world.

Read the Examiner.com story, "Fecal Matters in Hawaii", July 9, 2009.

Meanwhile, Wikipedia reports that "in bodies of water, the acceptable level of contamination is very low" and that Hawaii is generally highly vigilant about enforcement:

The limit for water off its beaches is 7 colony-forming units per 100 ml of water, above which the state may post warnings to stay out of the ocean.

Ragosta reports that Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle signed a bill into law that forces the Hawaii Department of Health (HI DOH) to follow U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Enterococcus standards that monitor for that single bacterium in marine waters. Ostensibly, signs would be posted as soon as an unacceptable level of Enterococcus bacteria is detected.

However, according to Ragosta, state law has yet to require HI DOH to enforce the same single standard for stream and irrigation waters for crops.

Instead, HI DOH must monitor for two bacteria (both Enterococcus and Clostridium perfringens) before it can warn the public of "fecal" contamination of fresh waters in the stream and irrigation category.

According to Wikipedia, there is a very good reason that Enterococcus is a more important indicator of waste pollution in fresh waters than is fecal coliform.

In 2004, Enterococcus spp. took the place of fecal coliform as the new federal standard for water quality at public beaches. It is believed to provide a higher correlation than fecal coliform, with many of the human pathogens often found in city sewage.^[8]

Read the Wikipedia description of Enterococcus.

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