Identification of potential microbial risk factors associated with fecal indicator exceedances at recreational beaches.

Background: Fecal bacterial densities are proxy indicators of beach water quality, and beach posting decisions are made based on Beach Action Value (BAV) exceedances for a beach. However, these traditional beach monitoring methods do not reflect the full extent of microbial water quality changes associated with BAV exceedances at recreational beaches (including harmful cyanobacteria). This proof of concept study evaluates the potential of metagenomics for comprehensively assessing bacterial community changes associated with BAV exceedances compared to non-exceedances for two urban beaches and their adjacent river water sources.

Results: Compared to non-exceedance samples, BAV exceedance samples exhibited higher alpha diversity (diversity within the sample) that could be further differentiated into separate clusters (Beta-diversity). For Beach A, Cyanobacterial sequences (resolved as Microcystis and Pseudanabaena at genus level) were significantly more abundant in BAV non-exceedance samples. qPCR validation supported the Cyanobacterial abundance results from metagenomic analysis and also identified saxitoxin genes in 50% of the non-exceedance samples. Microcystis sp and saxitoxin gene sequences were more abundant on non-exceedance beach days (when fecal indicator data indicated the beach should be open for water recreational purposes). For BAV exceedance days, Fibrobacteres, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Clostridium sequences were significantly more abundant (and positively correlated with fecal indicator densities) for Beach A. For Beach B, Spirochaetes (resolved as Leptospira on genus level) Burkholderia and Vibrio sequences were significantly more abundant in BAV exceedance samples. Similar bacterial diversity and abundance trends were observed for river water sources compared to their associated beaches. Antibiotic Resistance Genes (ARGs) were also consistently detected at both beaches. However, we did not observe a significant difference or correlation in ARGs abundance between BAV exceedance and non-exceedance samples.

Conclusion: This study provides a more comprehensive analysis of bacterial community changes associated with BAV exceedances for recreational freshwater beaches. While there were increases in bacterial diversity and some taxa of potential human health concern associated with increased fecal indicator densities and BAV exceedances (e.g. Pseudomonas), metagenomics analyses also identified other taxa of potential human health concern (e.g. Microcystis) associated with lower fecal indicator densities and BAV non-exceedances days. This study can help develop more targeted beach monitoring strategies and beach-specific risk management approaches.