Non-compliance of beaches with the EU directives of bathing water quality: evidence of non-point sources of pollution in Morecambe Bay

Morecambe's three EU designated bathing beaches frequently fail the EU directives, even after a state of the art sewage treatment plant has become operational. We have been using conventional microbiology to look at the seasonality and distribution of indicator and pathogenic bacteria in Morcambe Bay and using molecular methods (polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and pulse field gel electrophoresis (PFGE)) to investigate the pathways by which pathogens reach the bathing waters. We will present data for Morecambe Bay which show that: 1. Failures and passes appear to be associated with the prevailing climatic conditions. 2. Indicator bacteria may not always be derived from sewage effluents. 3. Not all pathogens are distributed in the same way as indicator bacteria. 4. Pathogens such as Campylobacter are as likely to come from birds as from sewage.