'Nowcasting' beach water quality

(American Chemical Society) Arriving at your favorite beach only to discover it's closed because of bacterial contamination can be a bummer. But even worse would be unknowingly swimming in waters polluted with fecal material -- a very real possibility, given that current detection methods can require up to 24 hours to obtain results. Now, researchers reporting in the ACS journal Environmental Science& Technology have identified computer models that provide accurate short-term forecasts, or 'nowcasts,' of beach water quality.
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: news