Meredith B. Nevers
Meredith B. Nevers is a Bureau Approving Official with the U.S. Geological Survey, Office of Science, Quality, and Integrity, stationed in Chesterton, Indiana.
Nevers received her Bachelor’s in Biology and English from Wittenberg University and her Master’s in Marine Biology from University of North Carolina – Wilmington, where she was inspired by the influence and diversity of algal communities. Nevers has been with USGS since 1997 in multiple appointments, recently including research aquatic ecologist. Nevers is an expert in beach water quality and human health, and she served as President of the Great Lakes Beach Association. Nevers interests include aquatic ecology of the Great Lakes including drivers of nuisance and harmful algal blooms, restoring, and improving urban waterways, detecting invasive species, and improving ecosystems assessments using advanced technology and genomics and continues to encourage science application for improving ecosystem function. In her role as Bureau Approving Official, Nevers now guides science integrity and communication throughout USGS to help maintain scientific excellence.
Science and Products
Recreational water quality response to a filtering barrier at a Great Lakes beach
Choices in recreational water quality monitoring: new opportunities and health risk trade-offs
Wave-induced mass transport affects daily Escherichia coli fluctuations in nearshore water
Enterococci in the environment
Nearshore hydrodynamics as loading and forcing factors for Escherichia coli contamination at an embayed beach
Beach monitoring criteria: reading the fine print
Efficacy of monitoring and empirical predictive modeling at improving public health protection at Chicago beaches
Physical and biological factors influencing environmental sources of fecal indicator bacteria in surface water
Modeling fate and transport of fecal bacteria in surface water
Budget analysis of Escherichia coli at a southern Lake Michigan Beach
Policies and practices of beach monitoring in the Great Lakes, USA: a critical review
Coastal loading and transport of Escherichia coli at an embayed beach in Lake Michigan
Science and Products
- Science
- Data
- Multimedia
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 62
Recreational water quality response to a filtering barrier at a Great Lakes beach
Recent research has sought to determine the off- or onshore origin of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in order to improve local recreational water quality. In an effort to reduce offshore contamination, a filtering barrier (FB) was installed at Calumet Beach, Lake Michigan, Chicago, IL. A horseshoe-shaped curtain (146 m long, 0.18 mm apparent opening size, 1.5–1.6 m deepest point) was designed to eAuthorsKasia Przybyla-Kelly, Meredith Nevers, Cathy Breitenbach, Richard L. WhitmanChoices in recreational water quality monitoring: new opportunities and health risk trade-offs
With the recent release of new recreational water quality monitoring criteria, there are more options for regulatory agencies seeking to protect beachgoers from waterborne pathogens. Included are methods that can reduce analytical time, providing timelier estimates of water quality, but the application of these methods has not been examined at most beaches for expectation of health risk and manageAuthorsMeredith B. Nevers, Muruleedhara N. Byappanahalli, Richard L. WhitmanWave-induced mass transport affects daily Escherichia coli fluctuations in nearshore water
Characterization of diel variability of fecal indicator bacteria concentration in nearshore waters is of particular importance for development of water sampling standards and protection of public health. Significant nighttime increase in Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentration in beach water, previously observed at marine sites, has also been identified in summer 2000 from fixed locations in waisAuthorsZhongfu Ge, Richard L. Whitman, Meredith B. Nevers, Mantha S. PhanikumarEnterococci in the environment
Enterococci are common, commensal members of gut communities in mammals and birds, yet they are also opportunistic pathogens that cause millions of human and animal infections annually. Because they are shed in human and animal feces, are readily culturable, and predict human health risks from exposure to polluted recreational waters, they are used as surrogates for waterborne pathogens and as fecAuthorsMuruleedhara N. Byappanahalli, Meredith B. Nevers, Asja Korajkic, Zachery R. Staley, Valerie J. HarwoodNearshore hydrodynamics as loading and forcing factors for Escherichia coli contamination at an embayed beach
Numerical simulations of the transport and fate of Escherichia coli were conducted at Chicago's 63rd Street Beach, an embayed beach that had the highest mean E. coli concentration among 23 similar Lake Michigan beaches during summer months of 2000-2005, in order to find the cause for the high bacterial contamination. The numerical model was based on the transport of E. coli by current circulationAuthorsZhongfu Ge, Richard L. Whitman, Meredith B. Nevers, Mantha S. Phanikumar, Muruleedhara N. ByappanahalliBeach monitoring criteria: reading the fine print
Beach monitoring programs aim to decrease swimming-related illnesses resulting from exposure to harmful microbes in recreational waters, while providing maximum beach access. Managers are advised by the U.S. EPA to estimate microbiological water quality based on a 5-day geometric mean of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) concentrations or on a jurisdiction-specific single-sample maximum; however, mosAuthorsMeredith B. Nevers, Richard L. WhitmanEfficacy of monitoring and empirical predictive modeling at improving public health protection at Chicago beaches
Efforts to improve public health protection in recreational swimming waters have focused on obtaining real-time estimates of water quality. Current monitoring techniques rely on the time-intensive culturing of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) from water samples, but rapidly changing FIB concentrations result in management errors that lead to the public being exposed to high FIB concentrations (typeAuthorsMeredith B. Nevers, Richard L. WhitmanPhysical and biological factors influencing environmental sources of fecal indicator bacteria in surface water
This paper describes the environmental populations of faecal indicator bacteria, and the processes by which these populations become nonpoint sources and influence nearshore water quality. The different possible sources of these indicator bacteria are presented. These include groundwater, springs and seeps, aquatic sediments, beach sand, birds, Cladophora and plant wrack. Also discussed are the enAuthorsRichard L. Whitman, Meredith B. Nevers, Katarzyna Przybyla-Kelly, Muruleedhara N. ByappanahalliModeling fate and transport of fecal bacteria in surface water
This chapter provides a basic review of deterministic and empirical statistical modelling and their application for predicting microbiological surface water quality.AuthorsMeredith B. Nevers, Alexandria B. BoehmBudget analysis of Escherichia coli at a southern Lake Michigan Beach
Escherichia coli (EC) concentrations at two beaches impacted by river plume dynamics in southern Lake Michigan were analyzed using three-dimensional hydrodynamic and transport models. The relative importance of various physical and biological processes influencing the fate and transport of EC were examined via budget analysis and a first-order sensitivity analysis of model parameters. The along-shAuthorsP. Thupaki, M.S. Phanikumar, D. Beletsky, D.J. Schwab, M.B. Nevers, R.L. WhitmanPolicies and practices of beach monitoring in the Great Lakes, USA: a critical review
Beaches throughout the Great Lakes are monitored for fecal indicator bacteria (typically Escherichia coli) in order to protect the public from potential sewage contamination. Currently, there is no universal standard for sample collection and analysis or results interpretation. Monitoring policies are developed by individual beach management jurisdictions, and applications are highly variable acroAuthorsMeredith B. Nevers, Richard L. WhitmanCoastal loading and transport of Escherichia coli at an embayed beach in Lake Michigan
A Chicago beach in southwest Lake Michigan was revisited to determine the influence of nearshore hydrodynamic effects on the variability of Escherichia coli (E. coli) concentration in both knee-deep and offshore waters. Explanatory variables that could be used for identifying potential bacteria loading mechanisms, such as bed shear stress due to a combined wave-current boundary layer and wave runuAuthorsZ. Ge, M.B. Nevers, D.J. Schwab, R.L. Whitman - News