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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Mar Pollut Bull. 2009 May 22;58(9):1374–1381. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.04.015

Table 1.

Federal and state regulations for indicator microbes in recreational waters.

Indicator microbe Regulatory Level Regulator*
Fecal coliform A monthly geometric mean of 200 CFU/100 ml (at the minimum, 10 samples over a 30-day period), and 400 CFU/100 ml in 10% of the samples.
800 CFU/100 ml on a single sample.		 USEPA (1976)
FDEP
FDOH
Total coliform A monthly geometric mean of 1,000 CFU/100 mL (at the minimum, 10 samples over a 30-day period).
2,400 CFU/100 mL in 20% of the TC single samples.		 USEPA (1976)
Enterococci 35 CFU/100 ml, geometric mean
104 CFU/100 ml, single sample
For marine water.		 USEPA (1986)
E. coli 126 CFU/100 ml, geometric mean
235 CFU/100 ml, single sample
Only for fresh water.		 USEPA (1986)
*

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and Florida Department of Health (FDOH)