Literature Summary of Bacteria - Environmental Associations Developed for the Upper Mississippi River Bacteria TMDL Project

Minnesota’s current water quality standards use E. coli as an indicator for bacterial
contamination from human and animal fecal material. However, bacterial contaminants are
difficult to quantify, despite their direct impact on human and ecosystem health. Sources and
supporting conditions are highly variable and monitoring protocol and methods introduce a large
amount of uncertainty. This analysis summarizes the most recent scientific literature concerning
the factors that predict, measure, or indicate fecal bacterial contamination. Topics include known
factors responsible for the introduction, transport, and/or outbreak of fecal bacteria, studies of
detection methods, source identification, and models. A concise summary of factors is listed in
Table 1 (Page 6). Factors that are themselves associated with water quality directly are listed in
Table 2 (Page 6) with representative citations. All relevant studies found in the literature review
are listed with a brief summary of findings in Appendix A.