{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,7]],"date-time":"2026-04-07T06:01:02Z","timestamp":1775541662959,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,9]],"date-time":"2018-02-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1518134400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Water"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Temperate estuarine beaches are an asset to coastal cities. Being located within the transition zone where the river meets the sea can provide several environmental benefits such as warm water temperature during the summer, flat waters, protection from coastal upwelling-induced morning fog, as well as additional recreational and cultural values. In this study we address a major question\u2014can the urban water cycle impair the water quality dynamics during a bathing season in a temperate Atlantic estuary (Douro, Northwest Portugal)? Water quality was assessed according to the EU legal criteria at different time scales. No daily, weekly, or monthly patterns for microbiological descriptors were found, which rather followed the hourly tidal dynamics. Quality decreased during high tide, affecting potentially 800+ beach-users during mid-summer weekends (4 m2 per person). Low water quality was transported upstream from highly populated urban areas. Therefore, the understanding of the dynamics of estuarine systems is essential to adapt the standard official approach, and the obtained results can be used to draw policy recommendations to improve the sampling strategy, aiming for more accurate assessment of the water quality to reduce the risk hazard of estuarine beaches.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/w10020173","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,9]],"date-time":"2018-02-09T12:46:27Z","timestamp":1518180387000},"page":"173","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Urban Estuarine Beaches and Urban Water Cycle Seepage: The Influence of Temporal Scales"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"S\u00e9rgia","family":"Costa-Dias","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CIIMAR\u2014UP, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research of the University of Porto, Novo Edif\u00edcio do Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leix\u00f5es, Avenida General Norton de Matos, S\/N, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal"},{"name":"ICBAS\u2014UP, Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar\u2014University of Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Ana","family":"Machado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIIMAR\u2014UP, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research of the University of Porto, Novo Edif\u00edcio do Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leix\u00f5es, Avenida General Norton de Matos, S\/N, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal"},{"name":"ICBAS\u2014UP, Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar\u2014University of Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3842-7133","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catarina","family":"Teixeira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIIMAR\u2014UP, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research of the University of Porto, Novo Edif\u00edcio do Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leix\u00f5es, Avenida General Norton de Matos, S\/N, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal"},{"name":"ICBAS\u2014UP, Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar\u2014University of Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9637-6541","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adriano","family":"Bordalo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIIMAR\u2014UP, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research of the University of Porto, Novo Edif\u00edcio do Terminal de Cruzeiros do Porto de Leix\u00f5es, Avenida General Norton de Matos, S\/N, 4450-208 Matosinhos, Portugal"},{"name":"ICBAS\u2014UP, Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar\u2014University of Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,2,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mason, P. 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