SMC study probing relationship between HF183 and illness risk nearing completion

The Southern California Stormwater Monitoring Coalition (SMC) is nearing completion on a three-year study probing the relationship between levels of the fecal contamination marker HF183 in wet-weather runoff and the risk that humans exposed to this contamination will become sick.

The study, which was co-led by SCCWRP and submitted to a peer-reviewed journal in August, is designed to increase the management utility of HF183 by shedding light on how much HF183 is too much HF183 – that is, defining for managers at what level HF183 in wet-weather runoff corresponds to a public health risk for people swimming at beaches and other contaminated receiving waters.

HF183 is a genetic marker that is widely used for detecting human sources of fecal contamination in aquatic environments. However, no health risk thresholds for HF183 have been developed to date.

Although the study was completed in June, the SMC has decided to delay publicly releasing the findings until the manuscript has gone through journal peer review and been published – reflecting the SMC’s commitment to ensuring the final threshold numbers are accurate and scientifically defensible.